LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



REPRESENTATIVE 



WOMEN OF METHODISM 



CHARLES WESLEY BUOY, D.D. 



Show us how divine a thing 

A woman can be made. — Wordsworth. 







i?ii 



irX 1 



NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON 
CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & CURTS 



-£M«" 



Copyright, 1892, by 
HUNT & EATON, 

New York. 



Eiectrotyped, printed, and bound by 

HUNT & EATON, 

150 Fifth Avenue, New York. 



2> 



TO 

MRS. ELLEN H. SIMPSON, 

WHOSE MINISTRY OF BENEVOLENCE AND LOVE IN CHURCH AND 

SOCIETY IS BUT ANOTHER EXPRESSION OF THE GOSPEL 

AS PREACHED BY HER HONORED HUSBAND, 

THE LATE BISHOP SIMPSON, 
THIS BOOK IS 



&ffMtfonat*l2 3B*&uat*Jj. 



INTRODUCTION. 



A SERIES of Lectures on Representative 
Women of Methodism, delivered in the 
autumn of 1891, in the hall of the Young 
Men's Christian Association of Philadelphia, 
for the benefit of the Endowment Fund of 
the Methodist Episcopal Orphanage, became 
the origin of this book. 

Two thoughts filled the mind of the author 
in their preparation — the aid of a noble charity 
and a desire to make known the beautiful lives 
of those who wrought so efficiently for the 
building up of Methodism. 

Many testimonies of their helpfulness and 
urgent solicitations for their publication have 
been received from those who heard them, and 
in deference to their judgment they are now 
printed. 

If a wider knowledge of the lives portrayed 
shall be an inspiration to lead others to a 
kindred devotion to Christ and his Church the 
author will be thankful. 

Charles Wesley Buoy. 

Philadelphia, October, 1892. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

PAGE 

Woman in the Hebrew Church 4 

Woman in Christianity 5 

Lineage and training 10 

Influence of dissent in England 12 

Her marriage 13 

Samuel Wesley, his scholarship 16 

Epworth parish 20 

The rectory 22 

Home life and education 24 

Childhood of the Wesleys 27 

Rare scholarship of Mrs. Wesley 29 

Genius of her children 31 

Religious convictions 35 

Lecky on John Wesley's conversion „ 37 

Her service in the rectory 38 

Its wonderful success 39 

Restoration of prophetic office to women 42 

Her advocacy of lay preaching , 44 

Deeper religious life 55 

Samuel Wesley, Jr 57 

His opinion of Methodism 57 

John Wesley expelled from the Establishment 59 

His position as an Anglican 61 

Macaulay's estimate of his work 65 

Cardinal Manning's estimate of his work 65 

Condition of Church and society 67 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Thackeray on Wesley and Whitefield 68 

Methodism primitive Christianity 70 

Mrs. Wesley's doubt and struggles 74 

Methodism the ultimate faith ., 77 

Dollinger on Wesley 79 

Mrs. Wesley's letters 80 

Death, character, and fame 81 

Influence of educated women 84 

An ideal woman in the parsonage 85 

Thomas Guard's tribute to her worth 86 

CHAPTER II. 

METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES IN THE EIGHT- 
EENTH CENTURY — SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 

Character of the membership of the first Methodist 

society 91 

Royal ancestry of Lady Huntingdon 92 

Influence in court society 94 

Sickness and conversion 98 

Union with the Methodists 99 

Her conversion a sensation among the nobility 100 

Bishop Warburton 101 

Her entire consecration 103 

Picture, of court life in Europe 105 

The Church in England 109 

Her homes opened to Methodist preaching 117 

Her hospitality 117 

Converted nobility 119 

Lord Dartmouth, Earl of Buchan, Duke of Argyle. . . . T19 

Countess of Chesterfield converted 120 

Houses of nobility preaching places 123 

The Church in the house 124 

Duchess of Marlborough 128 

Frederic, Prince of Wales 131 

Ball in Lambeth Palace T33 



CONTENTS. ix 

PAGE 

Persecution 135 

Her field of work 139 

Catholicity of Methodism 146 

Founding a college 148 

Evangelistic work 149 

Her generosity 151 

Her ministry for America, 154 

Orphanage in Georgia 154 

Aid to Princeton College 155 

Correspondence with Washington 156 

The salon of the new Reformation 159 

Spiritual ministry 161 

Her death i65 

One of England's noblest names 167 

CHAPTER III. 

THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS — MARY BOSANQUET 
FLETCHER. 

Home and early life 173 

Expulsion on account of her religion 177 

Heroism of her youth 180 

Opening an orphanage 182 

Nature of the first Methodist orphanage 185 

Hospitality 190 

Her call to preach 192 

Woman a prophetess 194 

Success in preaching 197 

Courage 200 

Inhuman persecution of early Methodists 203 

Wonderful answers in prayer 211 

Benevolence 217 

Financial perplexity 219 

Romance in marriage 221 

John Fletcher 222 

Rare gifts and lofty character 226 



X CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Francis Newman's estimate 227 

An ideal marriage 229 

Wesley's estimate of Fletcher 231 

Holiness attractive 235 

Lady Maxwell 236 

Lady Fitzgerald 236 

Mrs. Fletcher's definition of holiness 236 

Age and death 237 

Burder's estimate of Mrs. Fletcher 237 

A Christly life 239 

CHAPTER IV. 

METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY OF THE AMERICAN 
COLONIES — KATHARINE LIVINGSTON GARRETTSON. 

Barbara Heck 243 

Influence of Methodism on the German mind 244 

First society of Methodists in America „ 245 

Family of Judge Livingston 245 

Margaret Beekman 246 

Conversion of Katharine Livingston 248 

Position of family in the colonies. 250 

Missionary zeal 252 

Character of early American Methodism 253 

Homes of Bishop Asbury 254 

Value of converted leadership 257 

General Richard Montgomery 259 

Religious intolerance in New York 260 

Hospitality of colonial Methodism 261 

Governor Van Cortland 262 

President W. H. Harrison 264 

United States Senator Richard Bassett 265 

Conversion and service to Methodism 266 

Hany and Prudence Gough 267 

Perry Hall 267 

'Organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church 269 



CONTENTS. XI 

PAGE 

High culture of the leaders of Methodism 269 

Apostolic character of the Christmas Conference 270 

Tribute of General Conference to Harry Gough 273 

Carrolls of Carrollton and Methodism 273 

Bancroft on organizers of American Church 275 

Judge White 276 

Providence of God in the beginnings of Methodism 277 

Catholicity of Methodism 279 

Father Boehm on the Church 280 

Marriage of Katharine Livingston to Freeborn Gar- 

rettson 282 

Adaptation of Methodism to democracy 284 

Contemporary rise of Methodism and the republic 284 

Conversion and sacrifice of Garrettson 286 

Wonderful zeal of Bishop Coke 287 

Dissoluteness of colonial life .. 289 

Persecution of early itinerants. 291 

Pentecost in the wilderness of the New World 296 

Courage and devotion of itinerants 297 

Jesuit missionaries 301 

Debt due to pioneers of Methodism 303 

Home of Katharine Livingston Garrettson 305 

Conversion of Chancellor Livingston 306 

Edward Livingston 307 

Mrs. Edward Livingston 307 

General Russell 308 

Governor Tiffin 309 

Drawing room of Mrs. Garrettson's father 311 

Personal ministry 312 

Estimate of President Olin 313 

Olden time courtesy 317 

Garrettson the Fletcher of the American Church 318 

Wesley's desire — death defeated 319 

Age and death of Mrs. Garrettson 320 

Estimate of Rev. Dr. Buckley .322 

Galaxy of social leaders in early Methodism 323 



Xll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 

EDUCATIONAL WORK OF METHODIST WOMEN — ELIZA GAR- 
RETT. 

PAGE 

Expulsion of Methodist students from Oxford 337 

First college of Methodism 339 

Lady Maxwell's gift to Kingswood School 340 

John Fletcher an ideal college president 341 

Methodism an intellectual revival 342 

Benevolence of Mrs. Garrett 343 

Purpose of her benefaction 344 

Birth and training 345 

Scholarship of early Methodism 346 

Burning of the first college of American Methodism .... 348 

Women's College of Baltimore . . 350 

Methodism an intellectual faith 351 

Educational foundations laid by women 354 

Hannah Ball 356 

Woman's work in foreign and home missions 357 

First college for women in America founded by Method- 
ism 362 

Leadership of educated womanhood in the republic .... 364 

Mary Somerville and George Eliot 366 

Fruit of higher training of woman 567 

Training of clergy 369 

Culture of pioneer preachers 372 

Bishop Clarke's estimate of Mrs. Garrett 374 

Holiness of character 376 

Bereavement , 377 

Garrett Biblical Institute 378 

Steven's estimate of Mrs. Garrett. 379 

Chautauqua Assembly 379 

Intellectual premiership of Methodism in America 382 

Benefactors of Methodism 383 

Religion in college 386 

Immortality of truth . 389 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

PAGE 

American University 392 

Woman its first contributor 392 

Difference between the American and Catholic univer- 
sity 393 

Dr. Lord's estimate of women 396 

Methodism's ideal woman 3g3 

Influence of Mrs. Garrett's life on the Church . .. 402 

CHAPTER VI. 

METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE AT WASHINGTON — LUCY 
WEBB HAYES. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes's greeting to Mrs. Hayes 405 

Nineteenth century woman 406 

Revolutionary 7 ancestry 408 

Her father's philanthropy 409 

College training 410 

Fruit of higher training of women 412 

Graduation and marriage 414 

Civil war and life in camp 416 

Her patriotism and ministry 419 

General Hayes 424 

Life at the executive mansion in Columbus 425 

Her humanity 426 

Home at the White House 427 

Reverence 429 

New type of womanhood 429 

Her predecessors in the White House 430 

Rule of the first college-bred woman in the White 

House 432 

Her hospitality * 434 

Exclusion of wine from the banquet 436 

Independence of action 438 

Corrupt social life at Washington 439 

Noble example of total abstinence 441 

Her moral scepter 442 



XIV CONTENTS. 



PACE 



True glory of a nation , 443 

Her home ideal in purity and courtesy 445 

Her religious life 446 

High character of early Methodism in Ohio 446 

Influence of Methodism on Washington 448 

His hospitality to Bishops Coke and Asbmy 448 

Methodist chaplains of Congress 449 

Methodists as rulers in the highest seats of the republic. 450 

Influence of Methodism on President Jackson 450 

Conversion of President William H. Harrison 451 

Justice McLean, of the United States Supreme Court.. . 452 
Conversion and membership of President J. K. Polk.. . . 453 

Conversion of President F. Pierce 453 

Influence of Bishop Simpson on President Lincoln 454. 

General Grant's devotion and service to Methodism 455 

Lincoln's encomium on Methodism 457 

Humility and thoughtfulness of Mrs. Hayes 459 

Her kindness to the Methodist clergy 461 

Sabbath evening in the White House 462 

Service to the Church 463 

Presidency of Woman's Home Missionary Society 464 

Her public addresses in its behalf 464 

Fidelity to her Church 468 

Beautiful life 471 . 

Sudden death 472 

Funeral 473 

Honors paid to her memory 474 

Her place in American society 475 



{3ug&nn&5, ftjoflien of the Weglejfg. 



" I HAVE been acquainted with many pious females ; I have 
read the lives of others, but such a woman, take her for all in 
all, I have not heard of, I have not read of, nor with her 
equal have I been acquainted. In adopting Solomon's words 
I can say, ' Many daughters have done virtuously, but Susan- 
nah Wesley has excelled them all.' " — Adam Clarke, LL.D. 

" Before the eye of purified reverence neither the giants 
of force nor the recluses of saintly austerity stand on so high 
a pedestal as the devoted benefactors of mankind. The he- 
roes of honor are great, but the heroes of service greater. 

" Great souls care only for what is great, and to the spirit 
which hovers in sight of the Infinite any sort of artifice seems 
a disgraceful puerility. 

" The ideal which the wife and mother makes for herself, 
the manner in which she understands duty and life, contain 
the fate of the community. Her faith becomes the star of the 
conjugal ship, and her love the animating principle that fash- 
ions the future of all belonging to her." — Amiel. 

" The Evangelicals whom my brother so unhappily despised 
seem, with Unitarians, Quakers, and others, doing a work 
which will change the aspect of the world. We are in the 
beginning only. The awakening of womanhood is the dawn 
of a new era, equivalent to the making of Christian purity the 
goal of our civilization." — Early History of Cardinal New- 
man, by Francis Newman. 

" This is life to come, 

Which martyred men have made more glorious 
For us who strive to follow. 

May I reach that purest heaven, be to other souls 
The cup of strength in some great agony ; 
So shall I join the choir invisible, 
Whose music is in the gladness of the world." 

— George Eliot. 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 

\T THEN Oliver Cromwell was sitting for 
\ * his portrait he said to the artist, young 
Lely, " Paint me as I am. If you leave out 
the scars and wrinkles I will not pay you a 
shilling." 

In portraying the character of Susannah Wes- 
ley you will not see scars and wrinkles, for she 
is one of those rare natures in whom the ele- 
ments are so perfectly blended that we only see 
what is true, beautiful, and good. Many pens 
have given an etching of this quiet woman of 
Epworth Rectory. Poets have sung her 
praises ; orators have thrilled human hearts by 
a delineation of her graces ; painters have 
thrown on the enduring canvas her beautiful 
face, while historians of opposite faith and prej- 
udice have united to yield to her the highest 
meed of praise; so if an hour spent in her 
company is without profit the fault will not 
be in the subject, for no more winning name 
appears in the galaxy of English women than 
that of Susannah Annesley. Her life is an 



4 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

exquisite poem of godly sacrifice and motherly 
devotion set to music that now swells and 
again gladdens the heart, and by its rhythmic 
cadences of joy and sorrow ever must arouse 
men and women to holy endeavor ; for the 
story of a noble life is an inspiration to virtue 
and godliness. The example of those who 
have wrought well for humanity, in whatever 
sphere they have toiled, is ever helpful to 
those who struggle for purity and faith. 

Christianity created a new sphere for woman, 
and Methodism is the only Church which per- 
fectly fills it. It is a return to primitive 
Christianity in the place it yields to her, 
which was only carrying over into the new 
faith the lofty and exceptional privileges she 
enjoyed in the Hebrew Church ; for the 
woman of Israel was not the isolated, illiterate 
woman of paganism, but intelligent and culti- 
vated ; not the slave, but the peer and compan- 
ion of her brother. The Christian Church in 
its conquest of the nations, adapting itself to 
their own social condition, surrendered some 
positions to gain others. 

Woman's position, that high estate into 
which Christ had called her, was surrendered, 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 5 

and for eighteen centuries, with the exception 
of the Society of Friends, she has been held in 
social bonds. She plighted her troth under 
the bridal blossoms and heard her lover say 
with all his worldly goods he endowed her, 
when she knew that from that moment she 
gave all her property to him. She accepted 
the ring and knew that it meant simply to 
"serve and obey." In the ceremony of mar- 
riage she lost her name and property, and the 
historic Church gave its benediction to her 
servitude. Methodism has expunged the ser- 
vile terms in her marriage covenant, proclaim- 
ing a return to social equality, and Wesley, 
arising through his mother, gives to woman a 
position never attained since Christ attracted 
her to his ministry on the Galilean hills. His 
concession of religious rights has simply put 
her where Christ called her. The attempt to 
place the Christian woman of today on a 
level with the Greek women of the times 
of St. Paul, who would not keep quiet dur- 
ing service, is simply a case of religious rever- 
sion. 

Wesley, like the divine Master, attracted 
women. They listened to him and surrounded 



6 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

him with their loving ministry. He allured to 
his side, with equal ease, the lowly and women 
of honorable estate, peasantry and nobility, 
maidservants and daughters of kings ; . and 
all delighted to hear him. They accepted 
his truth, gave their time and money, follow- 
ing him in devoted ministry that closed only 
with his life. Nothing is more significant in 
the Wesleyan reformation than the interest 
it aroused in the hearts of English women. 

The earlier reforms had their heroines that 
made successful the freedom of religious 
thought — royalty itself, as Queen Elizabeth, 
taking up the Protestant cause and shielding 
the earlier faiths that were being destroyed by 
the hatred of Rome; but the earlier battles 
of faith were so mingled with political aims 
and ends that we do not see clearly the posi- 
tion of woman. 

In the sixteenth century reformation women 
were not as elevated as at the time of the 
Anglo-Saxon revival. The release of intellect 
that coordinated with the release of soul by 
Luther had not yet borne its fruit in the cul- 
ture that women were to share. Her inferior 
position in the Roman Church made her 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 7 

strong in domestic virtues, but her intellect 
remained dormant. Inferior in position, she 
received an inferior equipment, for woman's 
sphere will ever determine her training. 

If society teaches, with Plato, that " she was 
created to do the same work as man but not 
as well," then she will be held to servile work. 
If, as the King of Sweden said to his accom- 
plished wife, " I married you to bear children 
and not to give counsel," then she will simply 
be degraded. Her position will determine her 
training, and her training will again determine 
the position of her children. 

No one can study the life most potent in 
molding the lives of John and Charles Wesley 
and not see a mother's influence at every 
step of the great revival called Methodism. 
Susannah Wesley's thought and judgment 
created some of its most efficient agencies, 
opening up new scope for religious energy, new 
fields of usefulness and noblest companionship. 
From his earliest childhood to mature years 
she was John Wesley's constant guide and 
counselor. 

If she prepared him to enter Charter House 
School at eleven she also kept close to him at 



8 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

Oxford, and was his most trusted confidant 
until death. Wesley ever confessed that he 
found in his mother what most men find in 
their wives, their safest counselor and friend 
full of sympathy. To her he turned at the 
crucial points of life, and her wisdom saved 
him from many an error. Her favorite child, 
she held him close to God in reverent consecra- 
tion, and the answered prayer in his hallowed 
life kept her closer to him all her life. In 
her companionship at home and through 
her letters addressed to him while at college 
we can trace a strong mind of true and reso- 
lute purpose, anticipating the difficulties of 
faith that so early beset his inquiring and ex- 
panding mind, resolving his doubts, cultivating 
the weak places of his faith, and adding her 
own clear-cut convictions to the wavering de- 
cisions of her honored son. Providence had 
fitted Susannah Wesley by her peculiar training 
for the position of helper in the new religious 
movement. She could lead in dark places, for 
she had been through them. She had been 
tempted in her earlier years, passing through 
the struggle that comes to almost every 
thoughtful mind when faith as a tradition 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 9 

must yield to natural conviction. The intense 
controversies of Dissent had shaken her faith 
only to make it take deeper root in Christ. 
In the struggle of Dissent many Churches had 
lost their moorings and been drifted into Uni- 
tarianism. The grand old convictions which 
had made martyrs for Dissent were almost 
pulverized, and the Presbyterian Churches, 
dropping the Westminster Confession, were 
being lost in Christian negation. In the bat- 
tle of creeds that raged around her home 
mental inertia was impossible. People thought, 
and when they think they will have convic- 
tions. An earnest study of the faith of her 
father caused her in her thirteenth year to de- 
cide for the faith of her forefathers, and Susan- 
nah Annesley, the daughter of a rigid Dis- 
senter, enters the very Church which had driven 
out her grandfather and forsakes the altar at 
which her own father ministers. Her change 
of Church fellowship evinces surely a strong 
if not a rational judgment, and also a tolerant 
spirit in her father not resisting her purpose ; 
for it was a great step backward from Noncon- 
formity to Anglicanism, since between the 
national Church and Dissent there was no more 



IO SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

intercourse than between the Jews and Sa- 
maritans. 

To the modern Protestant mind her course 
seems reactionary ; but may there not have 
been a deeper providence in leading this young 
girl through the mazes of doubt into the com- 
munion of the Anglican Church ? Her con- 
firmation in St. Paul's declares her strong char- 
acter and her thoughtfulness, and while we 
cannot analyze the motives prompting the 
step we may be assured they were sufficient to 
her own mind. 

Miss Annesley was well born, and carried in 
her beautiful form and carriage the bearing 
which comes of gentle birth and good training. 
She was of clerical birth and of noble antece- 
dents, her lineage running into the nobility, 
her father being the first cousin of the Marquis 
of Anglesea. Her family on both sides Avere 
honored and ^educated. The men were strong, 
the women beautiful. The pencil of the artist 
has left on canvas a picture of her beautiful 
sister, who was noted for her charms and grace 
of form. She was favored in her ancestry. It 
was intensely religious. Her grandfathers on 
both sides sat in that memorable Assembly 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. II 

which gave the Church the Westminster Con- 
fession — a source of contention and strife from 
that hour unto this. One of her grandfathers 
was member of Parliament and opposed 
Charles I. It was this lineage that made 
Charles say in anger to his daughter, who 
would not believe in the divine right of kings, 
" I protest the rebel blood of some of your an- 
cestors runs in your veins." This grandfather 
was a Puritan, but he hated Cromwell. He 
called the execution of Charles I horrid mur- 
der and Cromwell the arrantest hypocrite the 
Church of Christ was pestered with. 

Miss Annesley's father was an Oxford grad- 
uate, and, like Huss and Carlyle, walked to col- 
lege with only forty shillings in his pocket ; 
but with that practical wisdom so eminent in 
later branches of the family came away with 
his head filled with knowledge and a purse five 
times as well filled as when he entered. His 
zeal was missionary and soon found the zealot's 
reward. " His first parish was the prison, his 
own charity his patron presenting it, and his 
work his wages." He was made of stern stuff, 
and, like Knox, did not fear the face of man or 
devil. He would preach and write unpalatable 



12 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

truth, nor would he silence his convictions for 
a bishop's seat or prelate's gown. He had the 
Puritan fire in his veins, and it came out in all 
his actions. He was one of that class of brave 
men who would be loyal to conviction at all 
hazards ; one of that Dissenting ministry 
whom the Earl of Chatham, defending, said, 
" They are represented as men of close ambi- 
tion ; they are so, my lords, and their ambition 
is to keep near the college of fishermen, not of 
cardinals; to the doctrine of inspired apostles, 
not to the decrees of interested and approving 
bishops. They contend for a scriptural creed 
and a spiritual worship ; we have a Calvinistic 
creed, a popish liturgy, and an Arminian clergy." 
Miss Annesley was fortunate in her environ- 
ment. The daughter of a scholarly clergyman, 
and reared under the refining influences of a 
model parsonage, she reveals in her life the rare 
fruit of that training — a discipline that has in 
all ages developed a high type of womanhood. 
Noble lives in culture and sacrifice and service 
naturally come out of the surroundings and 
atmosphere of the minister's home in which 
are ever held before children the highest ideals 
of life. The quiet elegance, the literary activ- 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 1 3 

ity, the aid of piety, and the saving care of 
others so predominant in the home has begot- 
ten a character most beautiful, adorning every 
walk of life from the White House to the low- 
ly cottage. 

Miss Annesley was happy in her marriage. 
She felicitates herself that she married a relig- 
ious man, and she might well, for a man with- 
out the fear of God is ever in danger. He is 
like a vessel without a rudder, and may be 
wrecked at any time. Her husband was of a 
long line of scholars and gentlemen; he, too, 
was raised in Dissent, but took orders in the 
Church of England. He married, like later 
itinerants, and went happy to his parish on 
thirty pounds a year; so you can imagine the 
ability needed in the youthful pair to make 
ends meet and preserve the dignity of the 
new station. He was literary ; Pope called 
him a " truly learned man." He made his 
first success by writing a life of Christ and 
dedicating it to Queen Mary; and he had the 
honor of dedicating verses, also, to Anne and 
Caroline. The prize from Queen Mary was 
Epworth parish, with a nominal income of two 
hundred pounds a year. 



14 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

Epworth Rectory and St. Andrew's Church, 
in the remote county of Lincolnshire, will ever 
be associated in godly minds with piety and 
truth ; for it was in the former that John Wes- 
ley first saw the light of day and received that 
remarkable training which fitted him for valiant 
service for God ; and it was from the latter 
that he was expelled of men to find a higher 
ordination — to be denied a local field and find 
instead " a world for his parish," and to be ex- 
cluded from its fellowship to form a true broth- 
erhood of St. Andrew. 

To Epworth, with its rectory built of wood 
and plaster, three-storied and five-gabled roof, 
thatched with straw, with hall and parlor, and 
beautiful garden and far-reaching fields of 
meadow and upland, brought the young rector 
his bride. The welcome was unique. Rarely 
has an itinerant such a home-coming as awaited 
Mrs. Wesley when she entered the metropolis 
of the Isle. What a reception ! The parish 
had heard of the new incumbent and was out to 
greet him. Rustic pagans had gathered with 
pitchforks, sticks and stones, and all weapons 
of resistance to keep the man of God from rul- 
ing over them or taking possession of his home. 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. I 5 

The queen's appointment had no more respect 
from them than a bishop's in the eyes of some 
Methodists, and the parishioners of Wesley 
were as impotent as modern rebels. 

The saint was undaunted and calmly installed 
himself in his new preferment, nor did the pass- 
ing years witness their conversion ; for when 
the little olive branches began to stand around 
the garden the vanquished parishioners contin- 
ued their attacks, and would cry out, " Ye little 
devils, come out, and we will kill ye all." 

All that low cunning and malice could de- 
vise was done to disturb the saint in his rest; 
flax was burned, harvests destroyed, food 
stolen, cattle mutilated, barn burned, and, last, 
the lawless brood destroyed the very home it- 
self. But, strange, none of these things moved 
the militant, poetical, convocation-loving rec- 
tor. No earthly trials can drive his muse 
away; she pours out her song in calm and 
storm with equal ease. Samuel Wesley is the 
typical Anglican clergyman, cultured, dog- 
matic, feeling the authority of his position that 
in turn makes him ruler in the parish and im- 
perious at home. She was happy in her mar- 
riage, and so was Samuel. His muse has left 



1 6 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

behind a sonnet to his wife written four years 
after marriage ; it bears the sound of a mar- 
riage bell, but the metal is a little hard for 
modern ears: 

" She graced my humble roof and blest my life, 
Blest me by far greater name than wife ; 
Yet still I bear an undisputed sway, 
Nor was 't her task but pleasure to obey." 

Samuel Wesley quietly pursues his way, 
reads his prayers and sermons, performs the 
offices of the Church for the living and the 
sweet sad offices for the dying, and cultivates 
his farm. The flowers bloom, fruits ripen, 
crops of rye and flax grow. Year after year 
the jessamine, honeysuckle, and roses blossom 
with sweeter fragrance, and cherries, apples, 
pears, and walnuts ripen in richer profusion. 
Within the olive plants multiply, until nineteen 
children have come, some to tarry, and some 
on fleet wings to hasten to the angels. 

Much has been said of Wesley's father. 
He was a man of one work ; he was a scholar 
and fed on books ; he was a Churchman and 
loved the fellowship of the brethren ; he was a 
poet and loved to scribble. Parochial duties 
sat lightly upon his shoulders. The zeal of the 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 1 7 

Lord's house did not consume him as it did 
Fletcher of Madeley. He had a good wife at 
home, and he allowed her all the burdens ; an 
obedient curate to do his work when absent ; and 
he could write books and dedicate them to roy- 
alty and receive their smiles — and that is the 
supreme joy of the loyal Briton ; for next to the 
favor of his God is the approbation of his king. 
He paid the tribute of all clergymen due 
their calling to leave some memorial of their 
Master. The ponderous tome called the Life 
of Christ is dead, although its subject must 
ever live. The little book of poems bearing 
the graceless title The Maggots finds a quiet 
grave in a few libraries where the collector of 
Methodist curios takes pleasure in showing it 
to his friends. He lives in the fame of his dis- 
tinguished family. He held with firm hold the 
headship of the family. He believed in that 
obsolete formula, " Serve and obey," which has 
wisely been taken out of our church service, 
but he had a wife that knew her prerogatives as 
well as his privileges. Obedience in such a 
woman would never become servility. A 
woman that would revolt against her father's 
creed would not find it difficult to rebel against 



1 8 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

her husband's politics. She would not take 
her creed from her father, neither would she 
have her husband's politics. Susannah Wesley 
had convictions. She was not the echo of her 
husband's thought ; she had ideas, and they 
create collision. She was a strong believer in 
passive obedience, and would not pray for the 
success of the arms of Britain. Tradition nar- 
rates that she did not favor the accession of 
William of Orange, and when prayers were read 
at the family altar for the king she, unlike the 
women of Corinth, kept silence. The rector 
was intensely loyal to the king, and was one 
of the strongest writers favoring his accession, 
and when she refused to say amen he said, 
" Sukey, if we serve two kings we must have 
two beds ;" and the pious Tory hies himself to 
London town to convocation, where he tarries 
until the death of the king, and then returns 
to his parish and study. 

History passes a divided verdict on the Ep- 
worth rector. Some have read in the chil- 
dren's constant appeal to her judgment the 
supremacy of the mother. No one can study 
the life of John, her most illustrious child, 
without observing that his mother's in flu- 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 19 

ence exerted over him almost a sovereign 
sway. 

In the province of faith Susannah Wesley- 
was an extreme Protestant. Her return to 
Anglicanism was not facing toward Rome. Her 
action was the result of her nature. She had 
inherited an independent spirit from her 
father and carried it out to its full extent con- 
sistent with the law of her conscience. Free- 
dom of thought was not lawlessness of convic- 
tion ; religious liberty was not license. She 
followed her conscience in the light of God's 
word and honored it as her highest guide. In 
comparison with her learned husband she does 
not suffer. She too had a dash of Irish blood 
in her veins that gave her facility for scrib- 
bling and a fondness for discussion. But her 
mind was tinged with the deeper and more se- 
rious spirit of Puritanism that colored all her 
life. Her revolt against its creed was only for- 
mal, and as age advanced she found herself 
gradually drifting toward the faith of her 
ancestors, and she died in the very Dissent she 
had abandoned. 

Puritanism is life and character more than 

doctrine ; its want of form repelled her, but 
3 



20 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

its spirit ever held her. In spirit she was 
Puritan, in form of worship Anglican. We 
may cast off mental formulas, but we cannot 
get away from character. The unconscious 
influence of her early training followed her all 
through life. She brought more to the national 
Church than she received from it. She united 
in her life much that we call Methodism ; for 
while in form it is the child of the Anglican 
Church it is spiritually the offspring of Puritan 
Dissent ; without its stern form of words and 
doctrine it is one with it in its emphasis of the 
Everlasting Yea. 

It is at Epworth we learn the story of this 
strong, helpful life. In this quiet retreat in 
Lincolnshire lived the woman whose mission 
under God was to prepare the way for the 
greatest reform movement that has ever quick- 
ened the spiritual life of the Anglo-Saxon race. 
Here was trained the youth whose stern but 
loving Gospel was to recreate the faith of Eng- 
land and her colonies ; who was to fan into a 
flame its embers dying on its altars and call 
back a recreant people to its trust. Here was 
born the " St. John of England" whose beautiful 
life and noble ministry saved the Saxon when 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 21 

wavering, and brought back his Church to 
loyalty unto its head, Christ ; for, as Liddon has 
truly said, " It was at this hour that Wesley, 
filled with the sorrows of his age and pene- 
trated with the hopelessness of its philosophy, 
offered anew the truths that had sustained the 
suffering and broken-hearted for eighteen cen- 
turies, in a form so entrancing that it awoke 
the sleeping choir of a dying Church." We 
look back of the reformer to see his mother, 
for she shares to-day in the brightening luster 
of his ever-growing fame, and wherever evan- 
gelical Christianity is preached her name is 
mentioned with love and veneration. No 
better molding hand to guide a child was 
ever given than that which ruled in Epworth 
Rectory. 

Mrs. Wesley was always with John Wes- 
ley. She led him in life, she followed him in 
death. The rectory was Methodism in micro- 
cosm. When John Wesley sailed for America 
the " rectory of Epworth and discipline of 
Susannah Wesley were afloat on the Atlantic." 
Fortunately we have not only the result of her 
womanly endeavor, but we can even know the 
genesis of Methodism as it unfolds in Epworth 



22 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

Rectory. The home is open and the mother 
is there ; here was the beginning of power. 
Susannah Wesley was a minister's wife, but she 
did not allow outside cares to interfere with 
her duty at home. She did not try to con- 
vert the parish and allow her children to be- 
come heathens. Home was her sanctuary. 
Here she was imperial. She gave her best to 
her children, she buried herself in their lives, 
and to-day finds in their widening fame a re- 
newal of her own life and ministry. 

Epworth was an ideal home ; the family were 
the embodiment of the name of their church, 
St. Andrew's ; for they were said to have been 
the most loving family in Lincolnshire. 

Three ideas ruled — God, duty, and brother- 
hood. We can see the mother in the training 
of the children ; she had the spirit of order and 
made Methodists of them all as soon, almost, as 
they were born. Militant in spirit, she was a 
veritable Jeanne d'Arc ruling her household. 
She educated early and continued discipline. 
She may not have believed that a man's educa- 
tion began a hundred years before his birth, but 
she believed it began with unconscious envi- 
ronment. 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 23 

Let us take a peep at the nursery; its 
sanctity will not be profaned ; it can stand the 
light. She was careful of foundations, know- 
ing that the beauty of the shaft depended on 
the base. How methodistic that training ! 
Their sleep was measured by rule. First, the 
babe was allowed to sleep three hours in the 
forenoon and afternoon, and gradually short- 
ened until none was allowed in daytime. Chil- 
dren were put in the cradle punctually at the 
appointed time and with the same punctuality 
taken out, awake or asleep. At seven o'clock 
all were bathed and prepared for bed, each 
one tucked in, asleep or awake, and no one al- 
lowed to sit by them until Morpheus touched 
them into slumber. Their food was also con- 
trolled ; they were brought into the dining 
room, and when strong allowed only three 
meals a day. They ate bread and drank small 
beer ; they were not permitted to call for food 
but taught to whisper to the servant who 
waited on them. No food was allowed be- 
tween meals, and if a hungry urchin was 
caught in the kitchen he was beaten, and if a 
servant fed them she was at once dismissed. 
They were compelled to eat all kinds of food 



24 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

so that they might take medicine easily. Her 
discipline began early, ancl it was wholesome 
physically. When a year old the little stranger 
was taught the fear of the rod and to cry 
softly. " Massage treatment " was used in in- 
fancy and a more heroic treatment when older. 
The new culture, spare the rod and spoil the 
child, was not yet in vogue, and hence she 
flogged in good old English style. She said 
truly that " the secret of a good education began 
with the subjection of the will — it must be 
conquered." By neglecting kindly correction 
children will contract a stubbornness and ob- 
stinacy which are hardly ever after conquered. 
She called indulgent parents cruel parents. 
No sinful act went unpunished ; if faults were 
confessed pardon was granted ; her authority 
was absolute over her children. She held the 
scepter of highest royalty, and never laid it 
aside until her hand was palsied in death. She 
not only educated but trained ; they were 
not only shown the way of duty but com- 
pelled to walk in it — not only taught what was 
godly, but led into it and compelled to accept 
it. Susannah Wesley's soul would have recoiled 
from that treason to God and humanity which 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 25 

declares, " I never influence my children." 
Her true soul would have spurned such ma- 
ternal apostasy. By all the persuasives and 
coercives of love and power that mother 
trained her children for God, and not one of 
those who arrived at mature years failed to 
heed her instruction or deserted her Church. 
Holding motherhood a sacred trust, when she 
gave back her children in the covenant of bap- 
tism she meant what she said, and God hon- 
ored the gift. There is more lying unto God 
among Christian mothers in modern Protes- 
tantism than ever before. Men are deserting 
the altars of God because mothers are recreant 
to their trust. They will stand before the 
chancel railing with an infant in their arms 
promising to lead and train the child for God, 
and when it grows up say the words of ma- 
ternal blasphemy, " I never influence my chil- 
dren." The desertion of the boys to-day is 
primarily due to the neglect of mothers. 

Susannah Wesley was a natural teacher, as 
every true mother is, and she held it her 
supreme duty to prepare her children for all 
of life's duties. Her home was a house of 
prayer during the week as well as a church 



26 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

and house of instruction on the Sabbath. 
Every child took its place in the school room 
after its fifth birthday and was taught the 
alphabet. The session was six hours, and each 
child was expected to master it in that time. 
Some mastered it before this age, and she re- 
gretted it. She was a model in patience ; her 
husband said, " You have taught that child the 
same thing twenty times ; " she replied, " If I 
had stopped at nineteen I should have lost all 
my work." 

The training of the rectory was not only in- 
tellectual but also social. They were fitted to 
mingle in the world, face its antagonism, and 
overcome its frictions by the culture of gentle 
manners. The rarest courtesies were observed 
toward one another. They had one code for 
equals and inferiors ; the humblest servant was 
addressed, " Pray, give me such a thing," and 
the child who omitted the form was reproved. 
The Christian name was always united to the 
surname, as John Wesley. Nothing shows 
good breeding more than fine manners, or 
better prepares children for an easy pathway 
through life than their possession. Manners 
rule where wealth cannot enter in, and intel- 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 2*] 

lect void of them is excluded. The charity that 
behaveth not itself unseemly, " that," as Wes- 
ley translated it, " is not ill-bred opens the way 
for the Christian, and it is as much his duty to 
observe it as to fill his mind with knowledge." 
We have the memoirs of but one perfect gen- 
tleman, and they are found in the New Testa- 
ment ; and that faultless man was a Galilean. 
Dean Stanley said of John Wesley he was at 
home equally in the rude cabins of the Irish 
peasantry and in the drawing rooms of Lon- 
don, and that charm which won Johnson and 
compelled the admiration of a Chesterfield and 
made a Methodist of his wife was created in 
the rectory. The little man, with attire fault- 
less in neatness, walking swiftly but never in 
a hurry, received that grace of manner from 
that beautiful frail friend whom he ever rever- 
enced as mother. 

The strength of Susannah Wesley's char- 
acter comes out in the spiritual training. She 
blended mental and spiritual discipline, know- 
ing that, as Wellington says, " Educate men 
without religion, and you make them but clever 
devils." Nothing that neglects religion de- 
serves the name of education ; without it 



28 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

culture is only another name for cunning. She 
used the Bible as a text-book as well as a book 
of devotion. The children spelled out of 
Genesis. They were apt ; Mehetabel at eight 
could read the New Testament in Greek ; John 
at eleven was prepared for Charter House 
School. Religion colored the whole social life. 
Children were taught before they could talk 
to invoke a blessing at meals. Their culture 
was rounded ; they were educated privately ; 
she had private conferences with her children 
on appointed days. Teaching the older chil- 
dren, they in turn taught the younger. At the 
hour appointed they would march to their 
private room and together they would read a 
chapter of the New Testament, a psalm, and 
have private prayer. This mode of living was 
kept up for thirty years. How beautiful that 
home ! No wonder those children loved that 
mother and that they all clung to one another, 
for the highest divine love was blended with 
that of human love. Her religion was rugged. 
It was not all sweetness, like that of modern 
women who allow their sons to go out into the 
world without a protest. There was authority 
in it ; she always ruled her children ; her power 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 29 

was in holding them to the truth when they 
came to maturity. Many women abdicate 
their position as rulers too soon. This woman 
knew her God-given prerogative and asserted it. 
Hear her words of authority to her son Samuel : 
u I exhort you as I am your faithful friend, and 
I command you as I am your parent, to use 
utmost diligence to make your calling and 
election sure." The very words ring with 
strength and compel our admiration. 

Intellectual and well disciplined, she held her 
children far beyond the majority of women. 
We stand bewildered at her work for her chil- 
dren. Think of this woman writing a manual 
of doctrine, in which she discusses the existence 
of God, the origin of evil, the fall of man, and 
the themes of innate ideas ! Think of her writ- 
ing a treatise on the " Evidences of Revealed 
Religion " before Bishop Butler wrote his Anal- 
ogy ! Think of her writing an exposition of 
the Apostles' Creed! She writes a Mothers 
Conference for her daughters of sixty quarto 
pages. Her literary writings all perished in 
the fire that destroyed her early home ; but if 
what was burned was of the same quality as the 
fragments that remain, Susannah Wesley was 



30 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

the De Stael of her age, and the Church, losing 
her manuscripts, has met with a great loss. 
Her literary works have perished, but her in- 
tellectual and moral life has been preserved 
in her children. 

In what home, ancient or modern, can you 
find such very clever sons and daughters ? Ten 
grew to maturity, and there was not a stupid 
one among them. We may not say with 
another that not " a drop of Wesley blood but 
carried genius in it." We do say they were 
an extraordinary family. Samuel, the eldest, 
was a rare scholar, and published a volume of 
poems that evince high poetical talent. John 
was the finest scholar of all the reformers. 
He stands out in intellectual leadership beyond 
Luther, Knox, or Cranmer. The difference 
between John Wesley and his clerical children 
is entirely too great. No minister ought to be 
willing to bear his name that cannot read the 
New Testament in Greek. An illiterate min- 
ister is a parody on old-fashioned Methodism. 
The early itinerants traced Greek verbs to their 
roots by pine fagots as they tracked the pioneer 
in the forests of the New World, and their suc- 
cessors should do the same. John Wesley 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 3 1 

opened up the rich treasure-house of German 
thought a generation before Carlyle, and his 
translated hymns are the delight of all Churches. 
Men know him as an itinerant in that won- 
drous Odyssey compassing over three hundred 
and twenty-five thousand miles ; but there was 
the rarest scholarship in that itinerant's gown 
that no one of his sons has excelled. His wit 
was as sparkling as his learning profound. What 
keener than his reply to the boor who, walking 
in front of him, said, " Sir, I never make way 
for a fool." " I always do," said Wesley, stand- 
ing aside. What more delicate than the answer 
to Charles in Conference ? A member is talking, 
and Charles declares, " If that man does not 
cease talking I will leave." John quietly says, 
" Will some one be kind enough to reach him 
his hat?" 

Genius was not only the dower of the 
boys but of the girls also. They were all 
scholarly ; they were poets writing for maga- 
zines and the press ; they were elocutionists, 
John saying of Mrs. Harper she was the finest 
reader of Milton he ever heard. Johnson, the 
philosopher, was charmed with Mrs. Hall, and 
wanted the bright woman to make her home 



32 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

with him. She influenced him and Garrick 
and Burke. She could match Johnson in wit. 
He loved to talk to her and also her brothers. 
Charles Wesley was a rare scholar ; he 
carried the address of the convocation of his 
university to the king, dining with him at 
court one day and with the Prince of Wales 
the next. Oxford honored herself in honoring 
him. He was the poet of the new reformation, 
but wrote nothing immortal until after his con- 
version ; and beginning with " O for a thouand 
tongues, to sing," what an outburst of song 
has flowed from his soul, belting the globe in 
sweetest ministrelsy of praise ! Had not his 
heart been strangely warmed within him his 
lips would never have been touched with the 
coal from heaven's high altar. He set the 
truths of the new theology to a music that 
grows sweeter as it swells. The new reforma- 
tion had its leader in John Wesley, its orator 
in Whitefield, its advocate in Fletcher, and its 
sweet singer in Charles Wesley, and who may 
say that the bard is not more potent ? For the 
Church catholic to-day takes up his sacred lyr- 
ics and rolls his psalms upward in worship to 
the one God. Without this Christian song- 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 33 

bird the reform would have lost much of its 
spell and power ; for he made its great truths 
so poetical in form that men in catching their 
rhythm were caught by the truth and con- 
verted. How clear the new faith in his verse: 

" The things which we have felt and seen 

With confidence we tell, 
And publish to the sons of men 

The signs infallible." 

Over a century has passed since the harp of 
Oxford's sacred poet was broken, but the sound 
of that voice still rings. The hymns composed 
for a little band of Methodists are now sung all 
through Christendom, Roman and Protestant 
in varied languages taking up Charles Wesley's 
song to voice their faith in a living God. 

Watts, himself a poet of noblest aim, calls 
the hymn beginning, " Lo ! on a narrow neck of 
land," the finest sacred lyric in the English 
language ; while Beecher said, " I would rather 
be the author of Charles Wesley's ' Jesus, Lover 
of my soul,' than of all my sermons." Many 
are the strains throbbing over hearts and beau- 
tiful, but that one hymn, penned after he had 
escaped the shower of stones, has but few equals 
in Christian psalmody, and if from out of 



34 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

Epworth Rectory there had come no other fruit 
the name of Wesley would be immortal. Do 
we wonder that one child of his at four could 
compose and at six become a pupil of Handel, 
and at twelve become the greatest organist 
of England ; or that another son composed an 
oratorio at seven and became a great musician ? 
The Wesley music still lives as well as its 
poetry, but you hear the least of it among the 
people who bear their name ; but go back to 
the Roman and Anglican Church, and you will 
be as much entertained by their music as by 
their songs. 

Wonderful the intellectual harvest of this 
woman's toil ; it covers the whole field of 
thought, theology, philosophy, art, music, 
poetry, history, and humanity, touching so- 
ciety on every side, and only to elevate and 
bless. Do we wonder that millions now know 
Epworth as a shrine for poet as well as saint, 
and that youth and age tread its rectory with 
reverent feet and walk through the nave and 
aisle of St. Andrew's and praise and worship, 
or stand in silence among the quiet dead who 
sleep in God's acre surrounding it? 

The quality of Mrs. Wesley's mind is dis- 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 35 

cerned in her letters ; they disclose her inner 
convictions. In an age of fine letter-writing she 
stands out as a model ; for felicity of expression 
and ease of diction and high thought they suffer 
not by comparison with those of Lady Monta- 
gue. Her letters are Addisonian in grace, a 
well of pure English undefiled, and will repay 
even at this hour a careful study. Pardon a 
quotation and catch the ruggednessand decision 
of her Christian character. She writes to her 
daughter : " The main thing which is now to be 
done is to lay a good foundation, that you may 
act upon principles and be always able to satisfy 
yourself and give a reason to others of the faith 
that is in you. For anyone to make a profession 
of religion only because it is the custom of the 
country in which they live or because their 
parents do so or their wordly interests are se- 
cured thereby or advanced will never be able 
to stand in the day of temptation, nor shall 
they ever enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
What grace of diction and what common 
sense ! But Susannah Wesley was practical ; 
she was a born rationalist and handed down 
the gift to her favorite son, who, even in child- 
hood, evinced many of the same qualities that 



36 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

were manifest in his mother. When a boy he 
was asked what he would like to eat ; he replied, 
" I thank you, I will think about it." No won- 
der his mother said, " John will do nothing 
unless he can give a reason for it." Practical, 
she was intellectual; born of cultured and pious 
parents, we see what is often disclosed, a cor- 
relation of gifts, and strong moral convictions 
of the first generation becoming intellectual 
power in the second. Character, moral in 
Necker the mother, becomes intellectual in 
De Stael the daughter ; Macaulay the elder 
moral, the younger Macaulay intellectual ; the 
Puritan root blossoming and bearing richest 
fruitage of intellectual harvest. In New Eng- 
land the old Puritan spirit, casting of! its 
forms, has dazzled the world by its brilliancy, 
the children of the stern clergy of the past 
flinging out as poets richest garlands of poesy 
and as historians entrancing pages of truth. 
So this woman, Puritan bred and reared, 
adds another beauty to the charm of that old 
faith which, clothed in such repellant forms, 
hid within them such rich argosies of truth and 
grace. 

Susannah Wesley's intellect was a blessing 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 37 

to our revered Church. In her conduct as a 
well-educated woman we see the genesis of 
those peculiarities that separate Methodism 
from the so-called historic Church and reveal 
it as a form of worship of apostolic usage 
and tradition. Lecky, the historian of her 
century, writes : " The scene that took place 
in Aldersgafce Street (when under the read- 
ing of Luther's Preface to the Epistle of 
Romans Mr. Wesley felt his heart strangely 
warmed) formed an epoch in English history." 
That scene in the kitchen of the rectory on 
Sabbath evenings, when Susannah Wesley 
held service for her family and neighbors, was 
an epoch in the history of Christian women. 
This woman's deed of kindness to the poor 
of Epworth parish was but the restoration of 
a ministry that had God's sanction in the old 
Church of the Hebrews and his fulfilled prom- 
ise in the new ; for what was Joel declaring 
when he said, " Your daughters shall prophesy," 
but a service and worship such as was held in 
Epworth Rectory ? Many of the most effi- 
cient lines of Methodist activity are but the 
extension of this woman's ideas. Her law- 
less worship is to-day an acceptable means of 



38 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

service. Her unconventional conduct is now 
called honorable, and the place of her worship, 
service in the home, one of the most efficient 
means of converting men and women. The 
very causes that differentiate Methodism from 
other Churches are seen in her home. In her 
conduct of worship we see its liberty ; in her 
use of the liturgy its form ; and in her own 
ministry the renewal of the prophetic office 
that in the primitive Church was not limited 
to either sex. How simple the forms of worship 
in that obscure home, but how far-reaching ! 
Samuel Wesley has gone to London, and a 
young curate is in charge of the parish. St. 
Andrew's is almost empty; the pews are va- 
cant or but sparsely filled, and this noble 
heart, finding the people have no bread, is 
moved with compassion toward them. Sab- 
bath evening comes ; the curate has read his 
morning prayers and sermonette over the 
empty seats, for only twelve or twenty of the 
faithful went to St. Andrew's, when she calls 
her family and servants to worship. The serv- 
ants crave the privilege, like Andrew, of call- 
ing their friends to hear her read the collects, 
psalms, and sermon, and they in turn beg that 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 39 

others may share the service. In the absence 
of the rector the curate drones his prayers to 
diminishing audiences while the church in the 
house is filling up until more than a hundred 
and fifty of the villagers, men that never en- 
ter church and women who know nothing of 
the Gospel, throng hall and door and window 
to hear the woman's words. The illiterate and 
cultivated Churchmen and Dissenters are there, 
begging only to stand and hear the words of 
worship. The village is stirred and Sabbath 
evening finds the church empty and the rectory 
turned into a conventicle indeed. The young 
curate is stirred, and he writes to the rector 
about his wife's service ; and then comes out 
this little woman's independence that seems to 
live to-day among Methodist women. The 
curate and a few parishioners have complained 
of the rectory worship. It is uncanonical ; it 
is a violation of Church orders, and it must be 
stopped. It is nothing that the people have 
heard the Gospel gladly ; that men have re- 
formed ; that women have been encouraged ; 
that homes have been purified ; that evil 
habits have been destroyed and new moral life 
created in the village. It is a service outside 



40 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

of St. Andrew's; it is a woman's voice, and it 
must cease. Shall a rubric be broken that a 
soul may be saved? Are men not more than 
measures and the Gospel of greater value than 
Church canons ? You may spike a cannon, but 
you cannot hush lips once touched by the 
coals from heaven's altar. Letters fly to and 
fro from London to Epworth. The husband 
writes, the wife answers. He knows her work 
and also the canon of the Church ; she knows 
the highest law of God, which Church canons 
have often made of none effect ; she has but 
two tribunals, her husband's word and God's 
decision. How loyal and true that nature 
comes out! She writes: "There is one thing of 
which I am dissatisfied — that is, their being 
present at family prayer. Last Sunday I 
would fain have dismissed them before prayers, 
but they begged so earnestly to stay that I 
durst not deny them." In the meantime the 
curate has waxed wroth because the people 
will hear the word of God from a woman's 
lips. He writes again, and there comes out the 
answer that is simply heroic : " If you after all 
do think fit to dissolve this assembly do not 
tell me you desire to do it, for that will not sat- 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 4 1 

isfy my conscience ; but send me your positive 
command in such full and expressed terms as 
may absolve me from all guilt and punishment 
for neglecting the opportunity of doing good 
when you and I shall stand before the great 
and awful tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

In this conflict of authority we can see her 
views of human and divine obedience. She 
acknowledged her duty to her husband, but 
still held herself as under obligation in his 
absence. She writes : " As I am a woman so 
also am I mistress of a large family, and although 
the superior charge lies upon you as the head 
of the family and as their minister, yet in your 
absence I look upon every soul as a talent 
committed unto me." 

We can see the model woman in this line of 
conduct — a high sense of loyalty to husband, 
but a higher allegiance to divine law. In her 
conduct the old adage is verified, " An ounce 
of mother is worth a pound of clergy." That 
service was the entering wedge that widened 
a narrow Church and the renewal of a form of 
worship that is apostolic and Hebraic. That 
service was the beginning of Methodism, 
which holds all places sacred and all voices of 



42 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

purity conducting worship as canonical. The 
simplicity is apostolic ; add the mutual pledge 
of honesty and purity and the common meal 
partaken, and you have the early morning serv- 
ice of the Church, as Pliny, proconsul to Bi- 
thynia, reported it officially to his imperial mas- 
ter, Trajan. That form of service, so bitterly op- 
posed by the Anglican Church, was but a re- 
turn to apostolic usage, and has been the 
means blessed of God in winning millions of 
souls to the cause of Christ. In that woman's 
independence and revolt against Church tradi- 
tions came out the true place of woman, and 
in the exercise of her rare gifts of intellect and 
heart woman's highest privilege. She was 
God's curate in gown and bands, not by the 
imposition of human hands, but by divine or- 
dination. 

Susannah Wesley was not only an agent in 
yielding to the Christian Church a new sphere 
for her sisters, breaking the silence of the ages, 
loosening her tongue to pour out the Gospel 
truth in sweet soft tones of persuasion and es- 
tablishing the Church again in the sanctity of 
the home, but unconsciously she gave apos- 
tolic breadth to the ministry. She held home 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 43 

a Church, and whoever was anointed of God 
by gift and graces was a minister. 

Somehow this Churchwoman learned that 
there was a higher consecration than that of hu- 
man hands ; that the manifestation of the Holy 
Spirit was the Church primeval that made man 
the minister of God, and that where this was re- 
vealed by its fruits man dare not oppose. It is 
remarkable that an arm of service which has 
been so efficient in building up modern Chris- 
tianity was first recognized by a woman. It was 
reserved for Susannah Wesley and Lady Hunt- 
ingdon to compel the use of laymen in the 
Church of God. It is no credit to John Wes- 
ley that he created the order of lay minister. 
He was shocked at the intrusion of laymen 
into the sacred office. His High Church ideas 
were wounded ; but woman's wit and insight 
were more than man's reason, and what he 
would not do his mother compelled him. He 
heard at Bristol that a young man named 
Thomas Maxfield had taken to preaching, and 
forthwith he mounted his horse and returned to 
London to silence the lawless prophet who had 
usurped the sacred office. He was angry, and 
when his mother said, "Why?" he warmly 



44 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

replied, " Thomas Maxfield hasturned preacher, 
I find." His mother looked at him seriously, 
and replied, " John, you know what my senti- 
ments have been ; you cannot suspect me of 
favoring readily anything of this kind ; but 
take care what you do with respect to this 
young man, for he is as surely called of God 
to preach as you are. Examine what have 
been the fruits of his preaching and hear him 
also yourself." 

Lady Huntingdon wrote to Wesley: "I have 
never mentioned to you I have seen Maxfield. 
He is raised from the stones to sit among the 
princes of the people ; his power in prayer is 
extraordinary." 

What a marvelous reader of God's order, 
and what an iconoclast in the Church of her 
nation ! 

By a simple service she asserts the apostolic 
position of woman, and by a simple word of 
counsel gives the mightiest blow to sacerdotal 
prerogatives ever received by any band of 
erring men. In her decision we have the doc- 
trine of the priesthood of the people. In the 
recognition of Maxfield's right to preach she 
taught the suppressed doctrine of the inner 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 45 

call as the highest authority for preaching, one 
which, logically carried out, is utterly subversive 
of all priestly assumptions. Her decision was 
no innovation ; it was a revival. Early Chris- 
tianity was democratic. The endowments of 
the Spirit were the privilege of all. The min- 
istry was a vocation, not a profession ; the 
highest authority was not outward, but in- 
ward — the Holy Spirit, and not the fallible 
society called the Church. 

Methodism honors this woman for her rare 
judgment and discernment. The local minis- 
try revere her as their patron saint. She leads 
with Lady Huntingdon in the revival of a lost 
arm of service that in early days laid great 
foundations for the spread of the Church, and 
called into service her most gifted sons and 
daughters. We may not catalogue the giants 
in the local ranks of other days ; but some 
names of that class Philadelphia Methodism 
should never let die. Methodism was founded 
in this city by a local preacher. Captain Webb, 
who, fighting for Merrie England, drew the 
sword of the Spirit in a more noble warfare, 
planted the seed that has grown up into a 
mighty plant — a preacher whom John Adams 



46 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

said " was one of the most eloquent men he 
had ever heard." The most eminent man in 
wealth, social position, and culture ever wor- 
shiping at our altars in the Philadelphia Con- 
ference, Governor of Delaware, signer of the 
Constitution, United States senator and United 
States judge, Richard Bassett, was a local 
preacher. He was but one of many eminent 
men that filled the ranks that now are filling 
up with men that are not honoring their call- 
ing. A great need of our Church is the reviv- 
al of the local ministry. We want the word 
of the merchant prince more than his money ; 
we want the work of our governors, like Bas- 
sett and Tiffin and others, whose eminent 
services to the nation were equaled by kindred 
devotion to their Church. Mercantilism and 
politics are sapping our Church rights. 
Money cannot take the place of service. We 
do not want less than millions for missions, 
but we must have a ministry for the millions. 
Methodism needs a widening of service. We 
must broaden our Church and fill up again the 
form that God has honored, for that new voice 
bursting out at a woman's command was a vox 
Dei, and where it sounded the glad tidings is 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 47 

the vera Ecclesia of God. Carlyle has forcibly 
said, " It stood preaching in its bare pulpit, 
with nothing but the Bible in its hand ; nay, a 
man preaching from his earnest soul into the 
earnest souls of men ; is not this virtually the 
essence of all Churches whatsoever?" 

History is slowly recognizing the beneficent 
influence of this woman over her son, and 
through him upon the whole evangelical move- 
ment called Methodism. She rebuked his as- 
ceticism, fast leading him to mediaevalism, and 
broke the spell that held him in Moravianism. 
His plastic faith found consistency in her mold- 
ing hand. She led him out of the bondage of 
ecclesiasticism. He grew broader under her 
benign influence, until the narrow Anglican 
priest became the evangelical minister, and, 
shells of bigotry breaking, he emerged into a 
new and noble life. Wonderful the advance 
John Wesley made under the guidance of his 
mother and of the Holy Spirit ! W T e see the 
young bigot, who would rebaptizethe Dissenter, 
going entirely away from the dogma of baptis- 
mal regeneration ; he that would not commune 
with others proclaiming a " league offensive 
and defensive with every follower of Christ ;" 



48 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

and he that would not read the burial service 
over a person dying out of his Church teach- 
ing that God's Spirit guided Socrates through 
his demon, and that God's grace would save a 
heathen following obediently the light he re- 
ceived. 

The outer influence of that strong nature 
flowed from her deep spiritual devotion. She 
was preeminently religious ; she walked and 
talked with God, and the joy of the Lord was 
her strength. The deeper we penetrate into 
that life the more winning it becomes. Not 
only in the home and ministry to that rude 
people do we see character, but in the hidden 
recesses of the closet. Her life was hid with 
Christ in God, and the secret spring of power 
so radiant in her life was derived from it. 
She dwelt in the secret place of the Most 
High and abode under the shadow of the Al- 
mighty. Two hours every day she shut the 
door of her closet and communed with God. 
Fifteen minutes before service she would spend 
in prayer for a blessing on the public worship, 
and fifteen minutes after, that God might bless 
it. She was deeply reverential, saying, " If some 
earthly king or prince were to. visit you, would 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 49 

you not be careful of your apparel ? " Think of 
this woman, burdened with the care of a large 
family, punctually leaving her secular duties to 
spend two hours with God ! We can easily 
see how she retained the mastery over her 
children as long as she lived, for she had 
power with God, and they who have power 
with God have power with men. 

Prayer was her life, and it was well she had 
God as a friend, for she had many perplexities ; 
sickness often visited her and kept her a prisoner 
in bed ; disease entered the little flock, and five 
of her children were down at one time with 
the smallpox ; death entered at short intervals 
and snatched away nine of the nineteen chil- 
dren whom God had given her. Poverty, com- 
mon guest of many a minister's home, loitered 
round her door, and hunger soon entered. Pa- 
thetic indeed is her reply to Bishop Sharpe : 
"Tell me, Mrs. Wesley, whether you have really 
ever wanted bread." "My lord, I will freely 
answer that, strictly speaking, I never did want 
bread ; but then I had so much care to get it 
before it was eat and to pay for it after as have 
often made it very unpleasant to me." Debts 
increased as crops failed and family multiplied, 



50 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

until at last, coming out of the church, her hus- 
band's servant demanded a payment, and, not 
having the amount, the scholarly rector was ban- 
ished to jail. Here came out the woman's ten- 
derest love ; she sent him her jewels and wed- 
ding ring, which he would not sell, to convert 
into money to be released. We know not which 
to admire the more, the wife's loving devotion 
in parting with her jewels or his manly re- 
fusal to convert sentiment into gold. Samuel 
was a stoic as well as a Christian, or he would 
never have left this picture of life behind the 
bars: " Now I am at rest, for I have come to 
a haven where I long expected to be. A jail 
is a paradise compared with the life I ted be- 
fore I came hither. I am getting acquainted 
with my brother jail-birds as fast as I can." 
Three months in an old grim castle he stayed, 
like Bunyan, preaching to the spirits in prison. 
Heavy indeed was the burden this godly 
woman carried in those dark days. Peril sur- 
rounded her ; cattle were mutilated ; crops 
were burned ; children insulted ; evil men grew 
bold and visited their iniquities upon the head 
of this innocent woman until, swift death re- 
moving one, she felt God had interfered. 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 5 I 

The torch was a favorite means to annoy 
this family, destroying flax, barn, and at last 
the rectory itself. The family escaped the 
peril of a great tragedy the memory of which 
is associated with her most honored son. Art 
has thrown on canvas this midnight scene of 
awful danger. The hand of malice has applied 
the torch to the old thatched home, and almost 
in an instant it is wrapped in flames. Lit- 
tle forms are sleeping in the nursery uncon- 
scious of the awful danger, when quickly the 
maid calls, clasps the youngest in her arms, 
and, with four others following, the little feet 
rush down the stairs. Parental love holds 
father and mother back to see that all are safe, 
and pressing down over burning steps they at 
last burst through the flame and escape, only 
to find one child has been forgotten. Wave 
after wave of flame rushes up the stairway ; 
once rushes forward the father, and twice 
and thrice, but only to find the sea of flame 
hiding the form of the imprisoned child. In 
the meantime the village is at the rectory, and 
in agony of helpless tones the parent on the 
ground commends his child to God, and while 
he prays the light floods the upper room ; the 



52 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

child awakes, and, thinking the morning has 
come, calls for the servant to take him up. 
Hearing no response he peeps his little head 
out of the curtains and sees streaks of fire run- 
ning along the top of the room. He runs to 
the door, but a sea of fire drives him back. 
Standing on a chest he climbs to the window, 
and a dozen eyes at once are on him and a 
dozen hands outstretched to rescue. " I will 
bring a ladder," cries one. " It will be too 
late," cries another. " Here is a shorter way/' 
cries a third ; and with athletic strength one 
man plants himself quickly against the wall, 
and with gymnastic speed a lighter form leaps 
to his shoulders, and, stretching forth his 
hands, John Wesley is rescued as a brand from 
the burning. The prayer of commendation for 
the dying has become a psalm of thanksgiving 
for the living, and in that rescue is saved to 
the world one of its greatest reformers — a man 
who, walking along eternity in his sixth year, 
walked near eternity all his days. Susannah 
Wesley ever considered John a special child 
and gave him her special care ; not that we 
would say he was her favorite, for in many re- 
spects her eldest son Samuel had that position ; 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 53 

but in the after years her life was more con- 
trolled by John than by any other child, and 
he in turn more influenced by her than his 
brothers. His counselor in youth, she seemed 
to have shared all his ambitions. He followed 
her, she followed him, and coming late in life 
to a kindred experience the new life led her to 
accept the new theology. 

Her experience of the doctrines of John 
were not her possession in her earlier years. 
She was a dutiful and godly woman, but, like 
some of the early disciples, did not know if 
there be any Holy Ghost by an experience of 
his presence. The central doctrine of Method- 
ism was an unknown province of faith to her 
until late in life. She had scarcely heard such 
a thing mentioned as having God's Spirit bear 
witness with our spirit ; much less did she 
imagine that this was the common privilege of 
all true believers. She said, therefore, " I 
never durst ask it for myself. But two or 
three weeks ago, while my son Hall was pro- 
nouncing the words the l blood of the Lord 
Jesus Christ,' they struck through my heart, 
and I knew God for Christ's sake had forgiven 
all my sins." What her son found in read- 



54 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

ing Luther's Preface to Romans this mother 
found in the sacrament ; both Scripture and 
sacrament became propaedeutic, leading them 
into an immediate knowledge of Christ. She 
came to the ultimate faith, receiving a new 
canon of truth and the inward contents of the 
Gospel. Her worship was the highest ; it was 
now intuitional, emotional, and intellectual. In 
the immediate contact of her soul with the di- 
vine soul Susannah Wesley became essentially 
a Methodist. The direct revelation to her 
soul was in perfect harmony with God's writ- 
ten word. Consciousness and Scripture were 
the canons by which she tested her faith. She 
based it not on the Church, with its accretions 
of thought held as infallible testimony, nor 
upon her own emotions and individual judg- 
ment ; God and the Scriptures were her highest 
authority, and she followed them even though 
they led her out of the Church she had chosen. 
Susannah Wesley was not converted when 
she was in advancing years. There is a differ- 
ence between saving faith and the assurance 
of faith. Many men have saving faith that 
have not been led into that highest experi- 
ence. In some minds the absence of the wit- 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 55 

ness of the Spirit is accepted as an evidence 
that a person is not converted. We cannot 
put Susannah Wesley in that class. We may 
not say that she was a formal Christian, nor 
was her knowledge of divine things merely 
secondary ; she was a religious woman, and 
while her faith as a working theory for life did 
not give her assurance it did give her peace. 
The hour of her entrance into the highest spir- 
itual life was clear and distinct, but the earlier 
crisis of conversion was unknown. She does 
not record it, nor does she relate the time or 
circumstances; she emphasizes the fact. When 
Charles was converted, as he styles it, and he 
wrote to her about it, her practical sense was 
shocked. It was rather a reflection on this 
goodly woman's training that he should have 
been trained under her care and be in the min- 
istry and unconverted, and she writes the son : 
" I do not judge it necessary to know the pre- 
cise time of your conversion. There is no uni- 
form law in the kingdom of grace." Some 
clergymen in our own Church who declare a 
man is not converted unless he can define the 
time and place should take a lesson in true 
theology from Susannah Wesley. 



56 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

From the hour that faith flowed into assur- 
ance, and her creed became a life, Susannah 
Wesley was out of her Church. The center of 
authority in religion now within was a contra- 
diction to a Church that held authority in 
outward ordinances in Church and clergy. 
With her keen intellect and practical knowl- 
edge of life she knew it and accepted it, and 
Susannah Wesley became a Methodist. Her 
attachment to her son's movement, that was 
stirring England and thrilling with a new re- 
ligious life the American colonies, soon brought 
opposition. The erratic course of the brothers 
John and Charles was bitterly opposed by their 
eldest brother. The scholarly but bigoted 
Churchman Samuel could see no Gospel in 
their prophecy, only schism in their move- 
ment. It was heretical for them to pray with- 
out the book and to preach outside the Church. 
Like former prophets they were without honor 
in their own homes, and their most bitter foes 
were of their own household. Poor Samuel ! 
His righteous soul was vexed when John and 
Charles went wandering round the country to 
preach the Gospel, but the climax of indigna- 
tion was reached when they gained over his 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 57 

mother to their lawless conduct and erring 
creed. He could keep silence no longer. The 
fire burned ; and listen how he addresses that 
mother. He uses the plain language; he 
turns prophet of sarcasm, and writes : " John 
and Charles are now become so notorious the 
world will be curious to know when and how 
they were born, what schools bred at, what 
colleges of in Oxford, and when matriculated, 
what degrees, and where and by whom or- 
dained, what books they have written or pub- 
lished. I wish they may spare so much time 
as to vouchsafe a little of their story. For my 
own part I had rather much have them pick- 
ing stones within the university walls than 
preaching in the area of Moorfields. It was 
with exceeding concern and grief I heard you 
had countenanced a spreading delusion so far 
as to be one of Jack's congregation. Is it not 
enough that I am bereft of my brothers, but 
must my mother follow too? I earnestly be- 
seech the Almighty to preserve you from join- 
ing in a schism at the close of your life, as you 
were unfortunately engaged in one at the be- 
ginning of it. It will cost you many a protest 
should you retain your integrity, as I hope to 



58 SUSANNAH. MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

God you will. They boast of you already as 
one of their disciples ; they are already forbid 
all the pulpits in London, and to preach in that 
diocese is actual schism. In all likelihood it 
will come to the same all over England if the 
bishops have courage enough. They leave off 
the liturgy in the fields ; though Mr. Whitefield 
expresses his value for it he never once reads 
it to his tatterdemalions on a common." What 
a bigot's blast against Methodism, and what a 
delightful epistle for a son to send to his mother! 
How delicious is the frankness with which he 
taunts her for her early faith, and what a grace- 
ful compliment to the great crowds that, hun- 
gry and perishing, his brothers sought after, 
and gave them Christ, the Bread of Life. 
Samuel was narrow and high. We honor 
his humanity in founding St. George's Hos- 
pital, but we pity the blindness of eye that 
could not see in his brother's work the sal- 
vation of England. We commend his kind- 
ness to his younger brother, but condemn 
his attitude to his mother. We admire the 
poet in Toplady, but despise the fierce intoler- 
ance of the preacher. We love the scholar in 
Cardinal Newman, but condemn the preacher 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 59 

with his face toward the past. And so of Sam- 
uel Wesley, we dismiss the High Churchman 
and bigot, but retain the brother and scholar. 
Samuel's letter gives us John Wesley's po- 
sition in the national Church. He did not leave 
it, but was expelled from it. In 1738, " when 
his heart was strangely warmed," the crisis was 
passed which put Wesley out of the Estab- 
lishment. From that hour the seat of au- 
thority was changed ; instead of resting faith 
in Church and sacraments, now it was on the 
word of God ; before, apostolic succession was 
accepted ; now he " calls it a fable ; " before, he 
held to three orders in the ministry — bishops, 
presbyters, and deacons; now he declares that 
bishops and presbyters are one ; before, ordi- 
nation came through imposition of hands ; now 
it comes with or without them, the Holy Ghost 
making valid the order ; before, he taught the 
sacraments as alone saturated with grace ; now 
as only symbols and pledges ; before, commun- 
ion was limited to the Anglican Church ; now 
he shares the sacrament with all who love 
Christ ; before, he would not baptize the child 
of a Dissenter or read the burial service of 
the Church over those dying outside of the 



60 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

national Church ; now the sweet, sad offices 
are given unto all ; before, he would not preach 
outside of consecrated churches ; now the com- 
mons are his sanctuaries, and he preaches 
wherever he can get people to hear him ; be- 
fore, he would not recognize any minister not 
receiving episcopal ordination ; now he holds 
fellowship with Presbyterian and Independent ; 
before, he would allow no layman to preach ; 
now he creates his own ministers and crowns 
his loyalty to the Establishment in good apos- 
tolic form by setting up a new episcopacy, not 
like that of Henry Tudor, the founder of the 
Church of England, allied to the state and a 
part of the civil service, but a presbyterial 
episcopate, a reestablishment of the primitive 
order before the usurpations of the Roman 
Church, a succession with Christ as its head, 
the Holy Ghost as its ordination, and free 
from all alliance of state — not beneath it as 
the Anglican, nor above it as the Roman, but 
free, a spiritual rule without prelacy or royalty. 
John Wesley held the national Church as a 
political institution and claimed its privileges 
as a citizen, but in doctrine, in tradition, and 
in form of worship and in spirit he was the 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 6 1 

most unrelenting iconoclast that ever adminis- 
tered at its altars. He trampled with impunity 
upon its most hallowed traditions, rejecting 
its dogmas of episcopacy, tactual succession, 
infant regeneration, and all other figments of 
faith so dear to the Anglican saint. 

Samuel knew his brother's position when " he 
was forbid the churches." He was as much 
of an Anglican as Luther was a Roman Cath- 
olic, for the first reformer did not go further 
from Rome than Wesley did from the Estab- 
lishment. Each would have remained gladly in 
his own Church, but a higher power drove them 
out, and erring men but carried out God's 
purpose. He was an Ishmaelite in his Church, 
and his children are the same to-day. 

The Protestant Episcopal Church is not as 
near John Wesley to-day as was its mother a 
hundred years ago, and for the good Churchman 
to call John Wesley a good Anglican is about 
as true as to call John Knox a good Romanist. 

If a loyal Churchman is a saint that tramples 
under foot all canons and condemns all tradi- 
tions, John Wesley was loyal. " By their fruits 
shall ye know them." Let us judge. He 
opened his pulpit to Presbyterians and other 



62 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

Dissenters ; the Protestant Episcopal pulpit is 
closed to all but its own clergy. Wesley shared 
the sacrament with other Churches ; the Protes- 
tant Episcopalian eats his bread alone, obeying 
the canon that " no one is entitled to the com- 
munion except he be confirmed or desires to 
be." The Church of the British Isles stands 
alone, and its American child shares its iso- 
lation. Receiving its doctrine and liturgical 
forms from the Church of Luther, it has even 
sundered the maternal bond and denied its or- 
igin ; instead of standing with the Reformed 
Churches, as in the times of Elizabeth, it has 
closed the door on them, and, facing toward 
Rome, is spurned by the latter and has no fel- 
lowship with the former. 

Wesley was an Anglican of the sixteenth 
century because apostolic in faith, but he was 
no more in accord with his Church in the 
eighteenth century than Methodism is to-day 
in sympathy with it, either in the little islands 
of Britain or in America. W^esley was the re- 
former creating what Buckle calls " England's 
second spiritual reformation," and while his 
ministry saved England from moral apostasy 
and gave a new life to the Establishment it 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 63 

also produced a new Church that in its toler- 
ance and holiness and missionary zeal has led 
the Anglo-Saxon race in noblest moral en- 
deavor ; a Church that, realizing most fully the 
thought of the reformer, also incarnates most 
completely the purpose of its divine Head — a 
free Church, a kingdom not of this world. 

In vain the deluded Episcopalians may quote 
Wesley a good Churchman as a reason why his 
followers should return to the Anglican fold, 
but these would consider it profanation to enter 
a Church that silenced its noblest teacher, counts 
as laymen its ministers who led their parents 
to Christ and gave them the sacred offices of 
the Church, and closes its communion to all 
who will not subscribe to its narrow creed. 
Honored as no Church in leading men to Christ, 
the children of Wesley would feel it were dis- 
loyalty to God to desert a standard that has in- 
scribed on it the most marvelous victories of the 
century, and follow a Church that, leading a hun- 
dred years ago in this new land, is to-day far 
in the rear of the armies of the Church militant. 
Methodism believes apostolic deeds declare the 
only apostolic succession, counting of but little 
value historic Churches or empty forms of 



64 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

ecclesiasticism, holding ever as its ministry 
what John Wesley wrote to Charles : " If, as 
my Lady Huntingdon says, 'all outward es- 
tablishments are Babel,' so is the Establish- 
ment. Let it stand for me, I neither set it up 
nor pull it down. But let you and me build 
up the Church of God." 

Methodism has a forward step, an upward 
look, and has no time to look back. It holds 
as saints of the Church catholic Anglicans 
like Dean Stanley and many others of the 
mother Church, who could see beyond their 
pale and in sweet charity pray for their pros- 
perity ; but for men of the stamp of Sam- 
uel Wesley it has a smile of pity and the 
prayer, " From all such good Lord deliver us." 
Samuel could not see the marvelous work 
God was doing for his Church and nation 
through his brother's earnest ministry. He 
could not recognize the quickening of the spir- 
itual life and the reformation of the people. 
He was outside. Rarely do kindred see genius 
in their own family or members recognize re- 
formers in their own Church. Dean Stanley, 
as pure in heart as keen in intellect, was one 
of the few Anglicans to recognize the value of 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 65 

Methodism and yield a correct estimate of the 
genius of the great reformer ; but the ma- 
jority of Englishmen have no eye to see the 
greatness of the movement or intellect to com- 
prehend the genius of its leader. Their great 
historian, Macaulay, may say, " Wesley had the 
genius of a Richelieu in administration and 
the zeal of a Loyola ; " their greater historian, 
Lecky, may say that the reform saved throne 
and altar from being overthrown as on the 
Continent ; Manning, the highest Roman prel- 
ate in England, may say that " England would 
have sunk into heathenism if it had not been 
for the work of the brothers Wesley ; " but the 
men and their message have no value to the 
English Church. The work is their commenda- 
tion, and no weak men could have arrested the 
Anglo-Saxon from his revolt against the cross 
or have purified a nation so grossly corrupted. 
Strange the darkness which covered the mind 
of Samuel Wesley, Jr., for he must have known 
England. The sad memories of Epworth par- 
ish itself were but a chapter of England's 
religious history. Epworth was but rural Eng- 
land in miniature ; the wickedness of its peo- 
ple was but an illustration of the immoral tone 



66 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

of the whole nation, and St. Andrew's, with its 
score of saints and bigots, but an evidence of 
the condition of religion all through the coun- 
try. Epworth was not the black country, but 
it was dark enough, and well needed a mis- 
sionary spirit to arouse it from its lethargy of 
sin and change its condition. The hour was 
ripe for reformation, for into what a condition 
had England fallen ! Society was corrupted, 
the poor were uneducated and neglected, they 
reveled in debasing sports and sensuous pleas- 
ures, whole communities would be drunken, 
the roads were infested with robbers, cruel and 
evil cunning wrought violence everywhere ; 
there were laws, but they did not protect ; pen- 
alties, but they did not deter from crime. What 
are just laws without a moral basis, or penaLties 
to men in whose hearts there is no fear of 
God? 

Property was not safe, nor person. Capital 
punishment was visited upon men for the most 
trivial crimes, the offenses punished with death 
running into scores. The rich robbed the 
poor, the savage peasant stole from the noble. 
Forms of law covered the land, but violence 
and wild license continued. 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 67 

In the Church we see the same condition. 
The people were without shepherds or served 
by hirelings who took the tithes and drank. 
Four thousand eight hundred and nine parishes 
had no parsonages, telling the amount of ab- 
senteeism in the Church. The rural clergy 
read their prayers, while some waited until 
death had reaped a monthly harvest and then 
read one service for all who had been called to 
their reward. The city rector hung around 
high places, and, like Sydney Smith, was the 
lapdog of nobility in menial service, and with 
low wit dragged down the sacred office. Re- 
ligion was simply a form of words. When any 
one in the higher circles " talked of Christian- 
ity," said the French historian Montesquieu, 
" everybody laughed." There was form and 
ceremony, but virtue and morality were want- 
ing. Christianity was a doctrine, not a life — 
a set of propositions, not a mode of living; 
each one had his creed ; men were not irre- 
ligious, but grossly immoral. The fine lady 
would bow at the sacred communion, pressing 
to her lips the chalice of the grapes of God, 
and in the evening sit at the gaming table, 
pouring out from the same lips the most terri- 



68 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

ble oaths. The Sabbath, a rest of God, was 
not a holy day but holiday. The times were 
full of religious controversy. Dean Swift tells 
us that " even cats and dogs discussed religion, 
while fine ladies became such violent partisans 
of High and Low Church parties as to have no 
time to say their prayers. Even profanity had 
its worshipers and the devil his professed fol- 
lowers, who publicly offered him prayers and 
drank his health. " England never saw a darker 
hour than that dissolute and backslidden eight- 
eenth century. No wonder, as Thackeray de- 
clares, " that Whitefield cried out in the wil- 
derness, that Wesley quitted the insulted tem- 
ple of God to pray on the hillside." There 
was not room for Christ in the temple, and 
these heroic men, pushed out beneath the 
long-drawn aisle and far-reaching naves of 
God's first temple, and beneath its starlit dome, 
gave again to Britons the winged words of the 
Gospel. 

Epworth was England, and what John Wes- 
ley wrought under God for England was but 
the enlargement of his mother's work. The 
great reform that swept over Great Britain and 
her colonies began in this obscure parish. Out 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 69 

of this Nazareth of England came the hand 
and heart that were to call back an apostate 
Church to its high calling and a dissolute na- 
tion to its true allegiance to God. That wom- 
an's voice in reverent prayer in her own house — 
that simple service holding her own family and 
drawing to it the illiterate and immoral, the 
poor and neglected of Epworth — was only a re- 
vival of apostolic usage. That conventicle in 
the rectory filled to overflowing with men and 
women begging to hear of Jesus, pleading that 
they may hear that woman's sweet voice, made 
sweeter by the Spirit of Jesus, is but an evi- 
dence of the attractive power of the Gospel, for 
it is ever " glad tidings of great joy," and when- 
ever announced will draw the people. 

Susannah Wesley is almost universally cred- 
ited by Methodist writers as the founder of 
the great revival. She planted its germs at 
Epworth and prepared by her own service 
some of its most efficient agencies. Those 
cottage meetings must have influenced a bright 
boy of nine years, and no doubt had their effect 
in his use of woman's agency, for which Meth- 
odism is especially noted. We have no data, 
but we will affirm in the discussion of their 



O SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 



propriety that John Wesley was on the side 
of his mother, and that his ministry was un- 
consciously controlled by her example. Her 
place in the great reformation is an honored 
one, but she is not the mother of Methodism. 
It antedates the Wesleyan revival or the An- 
glican Church ; it is only another name for 
primitive Christianity ; its teachings are those 
of Christ, and its spirit the same that crystal- 
lized into organic life at Pentecost. Method- 
ism is the apostolic Church, latent in the his- 
toric Churches, once more asserting itself. It 
was not created by John Wesley ; it had al- 
ways existed. John Wesley but removed the 
barriers that had bound it. Its truths were 
not new, its doctrines were not new, its mode 
of living not new. They are in the New Testa- 
ment if not in Church traditions. His own 
definition is true : "Methodism is the old re- 
ligion, the religion of the Bible, the religion of 
the primitive Church." Its truths were all in 
the apostolic Church if not in later commu- 
nions. They were suppressed and pronounced 
heretical, and their advocates punished with 
death. The doctrines taught by the new the- 
ology were the same that Wyclif and his itiner- 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 7 1 

ant Lollards had preached in England, that 
Huss and Jerome had preached in Bohemia, 
that Tauler and Luther had taught in Germany. 
A careful study of the salient points of these 
reformers will find them in accord with many 
of the teachings of Wesley. The supremacy 
of the Scriptures over the Church as the seat 
of authority, their recognition of the inner 
voice as the ultimate ground of faith in the 
word, and their rejection of outward forms as 
essential, put Wesley in accord with the great 
reformers who, within the historic Churches and 
without, have wrought noblest for God. Meth- 
odism was the spiritual life asserting itself, and 
blossoming even though all things were against 
it. Wesley but voiced the suppressed cries of 
the spiritual in all ages who will not be satisfied 
until they know God in their hearts. No stu- 
dent with the shaded eye can avoid detecting 
in the success of Wesley's teachings the vic- 
tory of truths that had struggled in vain for 
ages, namely, the sublime truth that " Chris- 
tianity is not a set of opinions but a life, that 
the heart and not the intellect is primary, and 
that the inward voice and not the outward au- 
thority is highest." 



J2 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

Mrs. Wesley inspired the love of her children 
by her devotion and held their intellect by her 
cleverness. She grew with her children in 
mental stature, keeping abreast with them and 
filling them with enthusiasm. When in mis- 
sionary zeal John and Charles sailed the great 
sea, although a widow and dependent on them 
for support, she said, " If I had twenty sons 
they should be given to missionary work." Her 
inner convictions only expressed themselves in 
earnest zeal for the rescue of others. Her faith 
was missionary ; her piety was not ascetic. 
She did not, like the mystic, sit in silence 
watching her spiritual pulse to know her spir- 
itual health, but when once convinced forgot 
in her work that she had any disease. Deeper 
experience broadened her nature ; her faith, 
growing stronger, did not become narrow, nor 
did her religious privilege beget intolerance. 
Her life made known can bear the focal light of 
any age, and the more light we turn on the 
more charming it appears. The inner life of 
this woman is known as that of few women. 
The mothers of the earlier reformers came of 
humble antecedents, and their names are lost 
in the glory of their sons. We see the mother 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 73 

of Huss in poverty walking with her boy to 
Prague, carrying as a present to the teacher 
a goose, that escapes on the way. We see the 
miner's wife and humble toiler guarding the 
young life of the great German reformer, 
Luther ; but the mist of oblivion hides the 
form that gave him life. Susannah Wesley, 
filling a social sphere above many of the 
mothers of great men, is known wherever 
English Protestantism is planted. " Her soul 
was like a star, and dwelt apart " as well as in 
her children — a model in home, in church, and 
in society. She was the best fruit of the Puri- 
tan training which has ever recognized the 
higher nature of woman and developed her for 
companionship rather than for service. In 
Susannah Wesley we look beyond the work of 
man and see the guiding hand of God. None 
may trace this marvelous life, perfected 
through suffering, without feeling that our 
heavenly Father led her better than she knew. 
She is a complex character, the resultant of 
many social forces that unconsciously made her 
what she was. The child of a proud Dissenter, 
born and reared among strong men and women 
who believed and suffered for their faith, the 



74 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

word of the persecutor touched her soul and 
made her unflinching in loyalty to truth. A 
student and inquirer seeking to know the foun- 
dations of faith, she plunged into the sea of 
speculation until convictions were almost 
drowned in the sea of doubt ; but, rescued from 
skepticism, she came out strong to shelter the 
weak and tolerant to help the wavering. 

Tennyson, the laureate, describes the strug- 
gles of Susannah Wesley when he sings : 

" Perplext in faith but pure in deeds, 
At last he beats his music out, 
There lives more faith in honest doubt — 

Believe me — than in half the creeds. 

" He fought his doubts and gathered strength, 
He would not make his judgment blind ; 
He faced the specters of the mind 

And laid them : thus he came at length 

" To find a stronger faith his own, 

And power was with him in the night 
Which makes the darkness and the light, 

And dwells not in the light alone." 

Following her convictions she abandoned her 
father's creed and Church and allied herself to 
the very Church that had persecuted her an- 
cestry and made Ishmaelites of those she 
loved. She brought to it, not the pervert's zeal, 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 75 

running to extreme submission that would 
show its sincerity by intense bigotry, but car- 
ried over into it all the aspirations and ideals 
of her early training; as to-day the children 
of Methodism entering the Anglican faith 
only remain to foster dissent or make schism. 
Susannah Wesley was never a genuine Church- 
man ; she was in heart and sympathy a Dis- 
senter, and only in form an Anglican. All her 
letters and actions reveal her the broad Church- 
man. The middle way between Rome and 
Geneva was not the faith of her soul. A com- 
promise creed she would not endure ; she was 
a Protestant. The Puritan movement in which 
she had been reared went with her into the 
Church of England. She entered it a Puritan, 
and that stern heroic faith, softened by the 
grace of God, held her all her life. There was 
a providence leading this woman back to 
Anglicanism as plain as that which led the 
mother of Moses back to the court of Egypt, 
and she, like Jochebed, had her ministry, to 
train a child who should set the people free. 

The hour had come for another reformation, 
for a new gift to the Church of God, a gift the 
highest and best, that, lost in Eden, was given 



j6 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

back at Pentecost — the gift of the Holy Spirit 
and the privilege of a personal relation to God. 
To make that gift winning he embodies it in 
the fairest form of beauty and loveliness ; and 
through Susannah Wesley's son the beauty of 
holiness is made possible and the world sees 
in her son's life and hears from his lips that 
man can know God and be a partaker of his na- 
ture. John Wesley's gift to the Church is the 
ultimate faith, and the means to attain it. 
The highest need of Christian faith is a per- 
sonal consciousness of Christ. Methodism is 
the perfected fruit of which the German ref- 
ormation was the flower. Arrested for a time 
it finds its completion in the Anglican reform 
of the eighteenth century. The Lutheran 
revolt was an outward, but that of Wesley 
an inward, protest ; the former made clear 
our formal, but the latter our spiritual, re- 
lation to God. Luther emphasizes what 
God does for man ; Wesley what God does 
in man. In Luther it was justification by 
faith, man made righteous ; in Wesley it 
was regeneration by the Spirit, and man 
made holy. Luther pleaded for freedom of the 
soul and an open Bible ; Wesley for the liberty 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 77 

of the Spirit and its divine witness in the heart. 
When the divine Spirit attests his presence in 
the human soul then the end of all religion has 
been reached ; then the last witness has been 
received and the highest attestation given. 
This is but Hermon with its sweet voice of at- 
testation repeated, " My beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased." There may be fuller com- 
munion, but the last fellowship has been en- 
tered ; there may be fuller testimony, but the 
same witness; clearer tones, but the same voice. 
God immanent in the soul and man knowing 
him is the ultimate faith. Neither Church nor 
Scripture nor sacraments are ultimate, but a 
personal God. The former are but channels to 
lead the soul to God, and to know him and 
Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent ; this is eternal 
life. The divine Father, apprehended by the 
human consciousness, is the special message 
that Wesley gave to the world ; that message 
which burned in his heart, strangely warming 
it, marks the highest point of development in 
the Protestant reformation and is the only mes- 
sage that can answer the inquiry of this age, 
" Can a man know God ? " Not a new truth, 
but the oldest ; not a new religion, but simply a 



78 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

republication of man's earliest message. This 
message is the need of the hour ; for many forms 
of Christian faith are but simply religious ag- 
nosticism ; they lead men to Church and the 
Scriptures, but not to immediate and personal 
contact and communion with God ; and that is 
what humanity craves in its plaint, " O that I 
knew where I might find Him." Methodism 
is not a new creed, but the oldest faith ; not a 
new mode of living, but the recovery of an old 
path — yea, of primitive Christianity ; for what 
Wesley felt and we witness to is the same 
Presence that burned the hearts of the disci- 
ples on the way to Emmaus, and set them 
shouting at Pentecost, and to-day is the glad 
experience of many who through the Church 
and word have been led by the Spirit into the 
same truth. 

Susannah Wesley's name is associated with 
the latest reformation, and must share the 
growing influence of its grace. Her name 
will rise above that of Monica, the mother of the 
great Augustine, because his system has had 
its day and will never control thought in the 
future as in the past. Her name will live after 
the Genevan reformer's name has sunk into 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 79 

obscurity, for the doctrinal fetters imposed by 
the youthful Calvin are being loosened and the 
Churches bound by his Institutes are slipping 
from his grasp. Dollinger calls Baxter and 
Wesley the greatest theologians England has 
produced ; and the judgment of the great 
German historian is already becoming the de- 
cision of Protestant Christianity. A century 
of earnest thought has passed, and that creed 
has suffered no revision ; and it is significant 
that all the changes in the creeds of the older 
Churches are in the direction of the same toler- 
ant catholic faith that Wesley advocated over 
a hundred years ago. The omissions desired 
in the Calvinistic formulas are to bring those 
Churches nearer to the creed of Wesley. The 
agitations of Church unity are in the line of a 
catholicity that Wesley ever taught and prac- 
ticed. 

Susannah Wesley wrought her noblest work 
in the training of her gifted sons, and although 
suffering many sorrows and afflictions lived 
long enough to share in the glory that even in 
life crowned their labors ; for the very commu- 
nities that before mobbed them now rejoiced to 
have them their guests ; cities that repelled 



80 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

them at first at last offered them their freedom ; 
and the name that was mentioned only to 
curse was breathed in benediction as none 
other over the British Isles. Age found her 
beneath the protecting care of her most illus- 
trious son. Death touched her eldest son, and 
how beautiful her words to Charles: "Your 
brother was exceedingly dear to me in this 
life, and perhaps I have erred in loving him 
too much. I once thought it impossible to 
bear his loss, but none know what they can 
bear until they are tried. As your good old 
grandfather used to say, ' That is surely an 
affliction that God makes an affliction. ' He is 
now at rest and would not return to earth to 
gain a world, and why should I mourn ? He 
hath reached the haven before me, but I shall 
soon follow him. He must not return to me, 
but I shall go to him never more to part." 
The English language has no more tender and 
exquisite elegy than is expressed in this 
mother's lament over the death of her eldest 
son. How opposite from the cruel letters 
Samuel wrote to her ! Her own death was 
Christlike, and her command to her children 
after she had conquered must not be forgotten, 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 8 1 

" Children, after I am gone sing a psalm of 
thanksgiving." After death, praise ! John 
and five sisters stand around the vacant 
temple, and it is a psalm of praise. We, too, 
may pause over such a consecrated life and 
offer praise. Strange the transitions of faith 
through which Susannah Wesley passed ! She 
began her life in schism, as her bigoted son de- 
clared, and ended it in the same way. She 
was born a Dissenter and reared at its altar ; 
she gave the greater part of her life in rever- 
ent service to the Anglican Church, and died 
in the first Methodist parsonage. 

Methodism holds her in honor for the train- 
ing she gave her sons ; Christian women hold 
her in honor for restoring to the Church the 
lost gift of prophecy by women ; and the laity 
in all Churches honor her for the recognition of 
the priesthood of the people and of their 
rights to preach and to pray. Methodism 
claims her as one of its earliest members and 
gladly recognizes in her special training God's 
hand molding the character of him whom we 
honor as our foremost leader. In Susannah 
Wesley we have a model wife and mother ; in 
her a pattern for every minister's home ; in her 



82 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

an example for every Christian mother who 
would train her family for God ; and in her a 
signal illustration of what a godly woman can 
do for home, Church, and society. She stands 
by common consent first of that band of godly 
women who surrounded her son in the great 
task of reforming an apostate Church and a 
corrupted nation. Without her counsel John 
Wesley would never have accomplished what 
he did. It was her soft but potent voice 
that never failed him when men reviled and 
opposed. She was his guide when erring 
decisions would have led him astray ; she 
was his friend when his family turned against 
him. Her charity never failed, but with wom- 
an's wit and patience she stood by him, urging 
him onward by faith and prayer " until sight 
dimmed in the shadow of death and ears were 
muffled by his silent touch." 

We can but faintly sketch this lovely and 
accomplished woman, but we can see enough 
of her work to entitle her to a place among 
the noble women who have in all ages minis- 
tered unto Christ and been benefactors of his 
Church and people. Many equal, but we see 
none surpassing her ; she takes her place with 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 83 

Mary, Monica, Paula, and Blandina. She 
shares with her son in a ministry that caused 
Lecky to write : " That although the career 
of Pitt, and the splendid victories by land and 
sea were dazzling episodes in the reign of 
George III, yet they must yield in real im- 
portance to the religious revolution which had 
begun under the Wesleys and Whitefield in 
England " — a reformation so ennobling in re- 
sults as to win for its leader the appellation of 
" St. John of England." 

In her life we see the elevating influence 
of a pure and educated woman over men. 
Woman has always influenced man, and will 
ever continue so to do. Even in the days of 
her deepest degradation she would rise supe- 
rior to her environments and control by her 
genius. She has by her subtle intuitions, by 
her modesty, and by her love drawn out that 
which is best in youth and noblest in man- 
hood. And so of Susannah Wesley, she was a 
counselor in manhood, and her control of her 
sons but exemplifies the beneficent power of 
godly women over men. 

Epworth presents a model for young women. 

No example could be more helpful and stimu- 

7 



84 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

lating; as cultivated as Lady Jane Grey, she 
too pursued the severer studies that mature 
into a strong and rich womanhood. Her train- 
ing was justified in its results. The smile of 
contempt may rise as her attainments in Greek 
and Latin and modern languages are made 
known. Men may sneer at Puritanism and 
Methodism, but the purest womanhood and 
the highest manhood have been developed 
at these altars. The Churches of a living faith, 
based on a personal communion with God, 
have been the seed plot of rarest virtues. The 
nations in which such a faith prevails are to- 
day the leaders in all moral reforms ; homes 
like the Epworth Rectory, Sabbaths like the 
evening service in this house, and instruction 
such as this woman gave are at the base of all 
social progress. 

Susannah Wesley, the educated woman, is 
a model as a mother. This type of womanhood 
keeps the respect as well as the love of chil- 
dren. Her children reverenced her ; she ruled 
as natural sovereign ; she never abdicated her 
place or resigned her prerogatives. 

She was a model minister's wife, true to the 
varying and perplexing obligations that grow 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 85 

out of that high position. What a distance 
between this woman and many that fill the 
same sphere ! What a distance from the mod- 
ern clergyman who, ignorant of Greek, boasts of 
his old-fashioned Methodism ! The average of 
our ministers have not reached up to where this 
woman in her first parsonage stood. She was 
ideal in service ; she could control her refrac- 
tory parishioners better than her husband, and 
draw a larger audience in her kitchen for wor- 
ship than the curate could in the parish church. 
She lived for her family, her parish, and her 
God, discharging every duty and carrying every 
burden. Her life was symmetrical, and we 
know not which to value higher, her service in 
one vocation or in another. She wisely kept 
in touch with all things concerning her home 
and Church. She had many gifts, and laid them 
all in reverent service upon the altar of God, 
and in that ministry was honored and blessed 
as few women, coming out day by day, as 
thought, word, and deed flow into character, 
into the similitude and likeness of the Master, 
and, dying, lives in a wider sphere and is lifted 
up to a still more exalted station. 

Thomas Guard, whose silvery voice, entranc- 



86 SUSANNAH, MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

ing two continents, was stilled too soon, pays 
this beautiful tribute to Susannah Wesley : 

"Wesley's mother eclipses the fame of his 
father. The daughter of a Puritan clergyman 
distinguished for his learning, his pulpit power, 
and his profound piety, she herself evinced the 
possession of a spirit unyielding in its loyalty 
to duty, and of an intellect fit to grapple with 
the problems of theology, such as might have 
become one of the giants of the Church in her 
own or in other ages. The mother of nineteen 
children and wife of an underpaid clergyman, 
she trained her children in the principles of 
piety, in the elements of learning, and in the 
habits of firm self-reliance and mutual helpful- 
ness, with an unfaltering purpose and an un- 
murmuring assiduity ; combining firmness with 
gentleness and freedom with order in her ad- 
ministration so as to command the esteem, 
confidence, and admiration of her sons and 
daughters and secure for her memory a sacred 
enshrinement in their affections amid the vicis- 
situdes of their strangely checkered lives. 

" Beautiful in person and queenly in manner, 
she was a counselor of her boys when students 
at the university, and an adviser of her illus- 



SUSANNAH WESLEY. 87 

trious son in circumstances of novelty and per- 
plexity. With a heart as tender as clear, 
quick to interpret character, and prompt in her 
apprehension of the will and ways of Provi- 
dence, calm amid scenes of perturbation and 
firm in her adherence to the dictates of a finely 
educated conscience, never forgetting her du- 
ties as a wife, and never ignoring her responsi- 
bilities to her own soul, she lived beloved, 
she died honored ; and although sainthood 
wound no halo round her brow, yet in the halls 
erected to perpetuate the fame of all those who 
served their species well by the will of God 
no holier niche is filled with spotless marble 
than that wherein reposes the dust of Susannah, 
the mother of the Wesleys." 

The portrait is finished ; the impression is 
yours. 



r^ethodigni at fehe (Jonrt of j5t. Jameg 
in the ^ighfseent| (£enfoiN[. 



" In our country, if a noble lady is moved by more than 
ordinary zeal for the propagation of religion, the chance is 
that though she may disapprove of no doctrine or ceremony of 
the Established Church she will end by giving her name to a 
new schism. No line of action is traced out for her ; and it is 
well if the ordinary does not complain of her intrusion and 
if the bishop does not shake his head at such irregular be- 
nevolence. At Rome the Countess of Huntingdon would 
have a place in the calendar as St. Selina." — Lord Macaulay 's 
Essays. 

" His rule of justice, order, peace, 

Made possible the world's release ; 

Taught prince and serf that power is but a trust, 

And rule, alone which serves the ruled, is just. 

" The generous feeling pure and warm 

Which owns the right of all divine, 

The pitying heart, the helping arm, 

The prompt self-sacrifice are thine." — Whittier. 

" The love of Jesus is noble, and spurs on to do great things, 
and excites us to desire always things more perfect." — Imita- 
tion of Christ. 

"And all is well, though faith and form 

Be sundered in the night of fear ; 

Well roars the storm to those that hear 
A deeper voice across the storm." — In Memoriam. 

"It is not to taste sweet things, but to do noble and true 
things and vindicate himself under God's heaven as a God- 
made man, that the poorest son of Adam dimly longs."— Car- 
lyles Hero Worship. 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 

METHODISM is an illustration of the 
power of the Gospel to save all classes. 
Its catholicity, attracting all men, is but an 
evidence of its apostolicity. In it we see the 
doctrines of Christ adorned in high places as 
well as beautified in humble station. It brings 
its glad message to the palace hall as well as to 
the peasant gate, and w T ith facile ease allures 
the noble and the peasant, the learned and 
unlearned to its communion. Its first society, 
formed in Fetter Lane, London, in 1738, is 
representative of what is ever a true Church of 
Christ. Among its members were men carry- 
ing the badge of Oxford's finest culture, the 
Wesleys and Whitefield and Ingham. The 
gentry of England were represented in Sir 
John Phillips and in Sir John Thorold, and the 
nobility in the Earl and Countess of Hunting- 
don, the latter of whom became a member of the 
society, and in her long and illustrious life held 
faithfully to its teachings. The beginning of 
a movement often determines its success. In 



92 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

the first society of Methodists were united the 
leadership of culture, wealth, and high lineage, 
together with the devotion of God's lowly but 
elect children. No society in England, either 
in the national Church or among the Noncon- 
formists, excelled it in all the elements that 
make up the Church of God. Its worship re- 
calls Pentecost in devotion ; for in that plain 
but venerable building in Nevil's Court its 
members would spend whole nights in prayer, 
and the power of the Holy Ghost was so 
manifest that the shout burst from the lips, 
and men and women were overcome by its 
power. The baptism fell upon the earnest stu- 
dent, and it also found a response in the court 
and drew to its support many of the most 
honored families of England. Among the 
nobility of England and Scotland who gath- 
ered around Wesley and Whitefield, and aided 
the new reformation, the most illustrious name 
is that of Lady Selina Shirley, Countess of H unt- 
ingdon, a member of one of England's most an- 
cient families, a descendant of royalty and con- 
nected on both sides of her house with families 
that ran back to the Norman Conquest. The 
house of Shirley was noted for its brave men 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 93 

and its beautiful women, one of the latter, 
Lady Frances, being one of the reigning belles 
of the court of George I, through whom her 
niece Selina was introduced at court. It was 
she whom the witty and wicked Walpole called 
in derision ''Saint Frances," saying she has 
turned Methodist and took this way of be- 
stowing the dregs of her beauty. Pope has 
described her wondrous beauty in the stanza : 

"Yes, I beheld the Athenian queen 
Descend in all her sober charms." 

In early life her niece Selina was given in 
marriage to the Earl of Huntingdon, of the 
house of Hastings — a marriage productive of 
sweetest conjugal joy, but soon broken by her 
honored husband's untimely death. Her life 
after marriage was filled up in discharge of 
home duties and in yielding to the demands 
of her social position. Her time was occupied 
in society and in politics. A member of the 
aristocracy, she took part in the civil strife that 
was going on at the polls, and kept in touch 
with the issues of England that were being 
settled abroad at the end of the sword. Her 
education and station, and her marriage with 
one of the peers of the realm, kept her in close 



94 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

sympathy with all the political interests that 
concerned her husband. The political arena, 
with its keen strife of tongue, had a charm for her, 
as it always has for a bright and strong-minded 
woman. She belonged to what was called the 
"Prince of Wales set," her husband being a 
leader in the court of Frederick, the heir appar- 
ent to the throne. An incident in her life will 
show her character as a society woman. In 
1738 a stormy debate took place in the House 
of Lords on the Spanish depredations. Lord 
Huntingdon taking a part in it, she intimated 
she would like to hear the discussion. At a 
previous discussion of the subject it was de- 
cided to allow no auditors but the House of 
Commons; consequently the noble wives were 
excluded from the galleries. Notwithstanding, 
a tribe of royal dames resolved they would 
hear the debate on this occasion and assert 
their prerogatives in spite of men, resolutions, 
and laws. These pioneer heroines were Coun- 
tess of Huntingdon, Duchess of Queensbury, 
Lady Ancaster, and others whose names have 
been preserved by Lady Montague, who says : 
" For I looked upon them to be the boldest as- 
serters and most resigned sufferers for liberty I 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 95 

ever read of. At nine in the morning they 
were in their places at the door of the House 
of Lords, when Sir William Saunderson said 
the chancellor had given orders not to admit 
them. The Duchess of Queensbury pished at 
the ill-breeding of a mere lawyer and begged 
Sir William to let them into the gallery pri- 
vately. After several refusals her grace an- 
swered, ' We will come in, in spite of the chan- 
cellor and the whole House.' This being 
reported to the peers, it was resolved to stand 
them out, and orders were given not to open 
the doors until they had raised the siege. 
These Amazons now showed themselves quali- 
fied even for foot-soldiers. They stood," she 
says, " until five o'clock without any food, con- 
tinually applying volleys of kicks and thumps 
and raps with so much violence against the door 
that the speakers in the House were scarce heard. 
After a siege of this character for over nine 
hours, and the Lords would not be conquered, 
they changed their tactics, and the duchess 
commanded a perfect silence for a half hour, 
and the innocent chancellor, accepting the 
silence as certain proof that they had re- 
treated, and knowing the eagerness of the 



g6 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

Commoners to enter, gave orders for the door to 
be opened, when lo ! the heroic dames rushed 
in pellmell, pushing aside the Commoners and 
all opposers, and took possession of all the front 
seats of the gallery." She says, " They cele- 
brated their victory by smiles and loud laugh- 
ter and noisy comments, interrupting the 
speakers, and continued it until eleven o'clock, 
when the House adjourned. " They were sim- 
ply the advance guard of the woman's rights 
movement, while the noted Methodist women, 
Ladies Huntingdon and Ancaster, are only the 
ancestry Ecclesicz of the class who have been 
knocking at the door of the General Conference, 
and of course will continue and verify again 
the adage when " she will, she will." 

We can understand the kind of Christians 
such women would make were they to be filled 
with the spirit of Christ ; for that native 
strength and daring, that persistent audacity, 
when transferred into new channels of godliness, 
would make heroism and noblest sacrifice ; and 
this it proved when Selina Hastings renounced 
the world and became a Methodist. It was 
through her husband's family that she was 
led to an experimental knowledge of Christ. 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 97 

From motives of curiosity her sisters-in-law 
were led to attend Methodist preaching, and 
Lady Margaret Hastings was the first to accept 
the new theology. Filled with the spirit of 
love and zeal, she coveted for others the same 
joy that filled her heart, and at once became 
interested in the souls of her family and kin- 
dred. Conversing with her one day, Lady 
Huntingdon w r as exceedingly struck with this 
sentiment that she uttered, " That since she had 
known and believed in Jesus Christ for life and 
salvation she had been as happy as an angel." 
To any such emotion of joy Lady Huntingdon 
was an entire stranger. She lived in an op- 
posite world of faith and feeling, and had no 
conception of the new life into which Lady 
Margaret had entered. She was naturally 
thoughtful. The sight of a child's funeral at 
an early age had tinged with sadness her spirit, 
and the haunting memories of that scene did 
not leave her. Like all well-bred children she 
was given to God in baptism, and later in con- 
firmation became a member of the Church ; but 
confirmation was not conversion, and the out- 
ward imposition of hands did not change the 
heart and give peace. A dangerous illness 



95 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

having brought her to the brink of the grave, 
the fear of death fell terribly upon her, and her 
conscience was greatly distressed. Lifting her 
heart in agony and prayer, and casting herself 
wholly on Christ for life and salvation, she said 
immediately all distress and fear were removed, 
and peace and joy filled her heart in believing. 
Perfect faith brought full redemption ; divine 
processes hastened. Disease of body was re- 
buked, and the soul sick of sin was restored to 
health, and Selina Hastings came back from 
the verge of eternity a converted woman. It 
was not a sick-bed conversion, one which was 
taken in fear of death only to be broken in 
health, but it was clear, decided, lasting. It 
was radical, quickening her intellectual nature, 
producing a new disposition and controlling 
her will ; it brought all her released powers into 
the service of God. The pure heart soon began 
to burn, for holiness is passionate, and she was 
not satisfied until others tasted the blessing 
she had received. Her conversion was instan- 
taneous ; it was genuine. Her own words, 
proven by a wonderful ministry, describe the 
result. From the moment when God set her 
soul free she had a passionate thirst for souls, 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 99 

comparing herself to " a ship in full sail before 
the wind, carried on by such a divine influence 
that she could not describe." 

Immediately on her recovery she sent for 
John and Charles Wesley, cordially wishing 
them Godspeed and assuring them of her de- 
termined purpose to live to Him who had died 
for her. The conversion of this eminent woman 
soon became a topic for gossip at court and 
among the nobility, and soon the sneer be- 
came the expression and contempt the word 
concerning her. The fashionable circle in which 
she moved and ruled (for she was by nature a 
gifted and most attractive woman) poured tor- 
rents of reproach upon her profession of faith. 
Her name was the theme at court, as her 
worldly companions made it the target for 
their cruel taunts. Some smiled, others 
mocked. Southey, the poet-laureate, said, 
" It was an expression of insanity that ran 
through the Shirley blood." Some, indignant, 
demanded that Lord Huntingdon should in- 
terpose his authority and check the fanaticism 
of his noble wife. Society was aroused ; the 
court circles were excited and the Church re- 
buked. At last a compromise was made, and 
b 



IOO METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

the archbishop was sent for to convince her 
ladyship of the unnecessary strictness of her 
sentiments and conduct. But, like every con- 
verted person, she was able to give a reason for 
the faith within her. She quoted so much 
Scripture and argued so forcibly from the Ar- 
ticles and Homilies that he rose up in anger, 
lamenting that he had ever laid hands on 
Whitefield, whom he blamed for her conversion. 
She replied, " My lord, mark my words, when 
you are on your dying bed that will be one of 
the few ordinations you' will reflect upon with 
complacency." Strange her prophecy was veri- 
fied, for when Bishop Benson was on his dying 
bed he sent for Whitefield and begged the 
acceptance of fifteen guineas for his work, 
and besought that he would remember him in 
his prayers. Lady Huntingdon was resolute; 
she had been converted, and when a soul has 
been touched by the infinite Soul the sepa- 
ration is not easy. It is an impossible task to 
pluck a soul out of the hand of the Almighty. 
A man himself may desert God, but when once 
converted rarely retreats. Many go out again 
from the Church who have never been con- 
verted, for 



LADY HUNTINGDON. IOI 

" Whoso hath felt the power of the Highest 
Cannot confound or doubt him, or deny; 

Though with one voice, O world, thou him deniest, 
Stand thou on that side, for on this am I." 

Her conversion was not a passing emotion, 
but a reasonable conviction based upon the 
word of God. This was evident in the efforts 
made by the Church to lead her to deny her 
faith. Bishops like Warburton rallied her on 
her new-found faith and called her an incur- 
able enthusiast. They crossed intellectual 
swords with her, going to the very foundations 
of the Christian faith. He said, " Bishops, 
priests, deacons, and baptisms, and commun- 
ion by sacerdotal administration make up the 
Church of God and the Christian." She re- 
plied, " He that believeth on the Lord Jesus 
Christ hath the witness in himself; the word 
of God verified in the human consciousness 
makes the Christian." He made faith outward, 
but she inward ; he put first tradition, she ex- 
perience ; to him all personal experience of a 
divine witness by the Holy Spirit in the heart 
was rankest enthusiasm ; and this to Lady 
Huntingdon was the very essence of Chris- 
tianity. She went back of Church and priest 
and found " salvation," as Kant puts it, ''an 



102 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

inward subjective experience of the heart." 
Spiritual truth was a revelation, a flash, as the 
gifted Bushnell said when he awoke and said, 
" I have seen the Gospel." This woman had 
the best of the argument, and her faith, based 
on the word of God and upon the certitude 
of consciousness, was simply ultimate. Well 
might the bishops hold back this convert, for 
the new theology was simply revolutionary. 
Once admit that the inner witness is highest, 
and the whole fabric of sacerdotalism falls to 
the ground. It was the old struggle between 
the authority of the Church and private judg- 
ment, and the latter prevailed. Her conver- 
sion began to bear fruit in the high circles in 
which she moved. Her zeal was missionary; 
she had come out from the world in confession 
of Christ, and now she separated herself in con- 
duct and life. The divine life flowed out in 
beneficent activity ; she did not flee society 
like the recluse, and abandon a world she could 
not convert, but at once accepted the social de- 
mands that rested upon her. There was nothing 
of the ascetic in her religion ; her religion never 
took that form. She would not flee the world, 
like Paula of Rome, because of its corruption. 



LADY HUNTINGDON. IO3 

Her conversion had not changed her estimate 
of the court or of the nobility. God's love 
reigning in her heart gave a still higher value 
to human souls, and while she saw in every 
human soul a foe to Christ she also dis- 
cerned in the enemy a brother who must be 
won to him. That is a coward faith which 
flees society and shuts itself in convent cell to 
sing and pray. That is an ignoble faith which 
spends its strength to save men far away and 
neglects home. The disciples began at Jeru- 
salem. Lady Huntingdon began at court, and 
many of the most beautiful lives that adorn 
Methodist history or any Church history were 
converted at court. She carried over into her 
new life all the dignity, grace, and love which 
she had bestowed upon society. Positive and 
strong before conversion, grace made her still 
stronger. Possessing the strong self-reliant 
spirit of her race, she embodied it in all her 
plans. Her conversion was providential ; she 
was a chosen vessel to carry the Gospel in high 
places. Her whole life in its manifold activities 
reveals a higher guiding hand than that of 
man. Every life is a ministry, and every Chris- 
tian has his sphere of service. Social position 



104 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

and wealth are nothing in God's sight, and woe 
in the last day to the women of honorable estate 
that bear the name of Christ and mingle among 
the highest and never use their position for him. 
The question that every converted spirit asks, 
" What wilt thou have me to do ? " was soon 
answered, and the door to enter soon opened. 
It needed not that she should step out of Lon- 
don, nay, even out of her own circle, to find a 
harvest for her toil. The golden harvest was 
in the court circles, and men and women all 
around her were being corrupted and lost. 
England was mission ground, and London a 
field that needed a very Caleb to scale the 
mountains of society and win its higher life to 
God ; and this hardest field, Caleb-like, she 
coveted and entered. But what a task ! Whose 
arm herculean can conquer the evil one 
intrenched in court and state and even in 
Church ? What Titan hand can lift up that 
whole society sinking day by day in darker sin 
and shame? What reformer's skill can break 
the Circean charm that works in awful dark- 
ness, transforming men and women from angels 
into demons ? Intemperance reigned at the 
capital, every sixth house in London being a 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 105 

gin-shop. It permeated all ranks, even to the 
highest. Walpole's administration was ignobly 
called the drunken administration. It was a 
dark and dissolute age that eighteenth century. 
On the Continent a Frederick and a Louis 
ruled, but silently their thrones were being un- 
dermined. The cultivated atheism of a Voltaire 
was trickling down the philosopher's lips to 
the common people, soon to be actualized in 
the awful tragedy that subverted altar and 
throne in France and made Germany suffer 
for her treason to God. The courts of Protes- 
tant and Catholic Europe were filled with prof- 
ligate men and women. The natural leaders 
of society abdicated their sacred trust to those 
beneath, and lived simply a life of pleasure. 
Appearances were substituted for reality, gold 
lace and genuflections and ceremonies for vir- 
tue in women and honor among men. In 
England the German kings had brought over 
high ideas of royalty but none of service. The 
advent of the Georges did not make a bright 
era. We wonder how England tolerated them ; 
but a divinity hedged them round in the political 
faith of the divine right of kings. This made 
their persons sacred. The death of Charles I 



106 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

had not yet shattered the Briton's faith in that 
political delusion ; indeed, it had reacted until 
his name became a synonym of martyrdom, 
and sincere prayer was offered up for his 
troubled spirit. They held that royalty was 
a law unto itself and kings were not amenable 
to the people. Kings were absolute. Royalty 
was at its height. Subjects were property, 
and soldiers were sold to be killed with the 
same ease with which the Southern slaveholder 
sold his Negroes to replenish his purse. It 
was well that faith in royalty was strong; 
it helped these kings to keep their seats. 
Historians and satirists have turned on the 
light, and the court life of that century dis- 
pels many an illusion and confirms the poet's 
words, " Distance lends enchantment to the 
view." The royal actors in the scene were 
but clay, and very common clay at that. 
When we peep behind the pomp and cere- 
mony we see little to commend. Nobility 
cannot bear the microscope. We elevate those 
royal dames and nobles on a high pedestal, 
but our powdered gentlemen and painted la- 
dies of the old school disappear most quickly 
when we draw near. Instead of lordly men, 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 107 

honoring their positions by deeds of lofty vir- 
tue, we see only a gaming, drinking set, fit 
ancestry for the present Prince of Wales, who 
has improved on his forefathers by peddling 
his cards and becoming an itinerant gambler. 
Instead of the woman of pure lips we have the 
profane duchess and lady punctuating her talk 
with oaths, and uttering language you would 
not hear. Nobility could not work ; it could 
not deign to enter law or medicine or soil its 
dainty hands at trade. War was its only voca- 
tion and the profession of arms its only pursuit. 
Pleasure was the end of life. They danced 
and gambled and drank and sang. Gaming 
was a passion, and the card-table everywhere. 
Bishops played and clergymen, Anglican and 
Dissenters ; it is said even Epworth had its 
table. It was so much in vogue that igno- 
rance of cards stamped one as low-bred and 
not fit for conversation. Books were nowhere, 
cards everywhere. Hateful old Sarah Marl- 
borough would say, " The only books I know 
are men and cards." George II would rage if 
you talked books. 

The higher we ascend the faster disappears 
the fine lady and old school gentleman. The 



108 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

court of St. James is open, and instead of high- 
minded kings only coarse Germans, and these 
eating sauerkraut, sausages, and drinking horrid 
beer. The appearance is royal, and ceremony 
awe-inspiring. Kings' servants are royalty ; 
only the highest blood could carry their candles, 
change their garments, and serve their food. 
No plebeian friends could stand and serve these 
royal men and women ; but it is all hollow. 
Court language is only plain speaking. The 
inner life of the court was in keeping with the 
outer ; royalty and nobility would drink and 
swear together. The king and his set would 
sit around the table together, tipping their 
elbows and playing their cards. When want- 
ing a diversion his majesty would pull the 
chairs from under his friends and let them be 
seated before him. Royal dames would follow 
his example, and soon little adipose George 
II, with equal grace or disgrace, was sitting on 
the floor. A jolly set were these Germans. 
The Britons made fun of them and they 
laughed at them in return. 

Their religion was like their manners, stately, 
formal, and ceremonial. The court was re- 
ligious, but not pious. "The queen's chap- 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 109 

lains mumbled through their morning office in 
the anteroom, under the picture of the great 
Venus, with the door opened into an adjoining- 
room, where the queen is dressing, talking 
scandal to Lady Hervey or uttering sneers at 
Lady Suffolk, who is kneeling with the basin 
at her mistress's side." The higher clergy 
would preach and the careless king would 
chatter, and, instead of thrusting the flaming 
rebuke like a Knox, the servile chaplains would 
cry because the frivolous king would disturb 
the meeting. The old fire that flamed in the 
soul of a Ridley or a Latimer had died out 
upon the altars. Voices of warning were now 
accents of flattery, and royalty, reading the lie 
in the eyes of the false prophet, mocked when 
it should have worshiped, and profaned in- 
stead of repented. 

The court was not only corrupt, but the 
Churches were dead. " A converted clergy- 
man was as rare as a comet." Its ministry 
was corrupted, its sacred places profaned. 
Lambeth Palace became under Cornwallis a 
social rival to St. James. The worldly wife of 
the archbishop set up a social circle, and the 
place hallowed by most sacred traditions 



I 10 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

echoed to the songs of wild revelry and mirth. 
The palace of the primate of the Anglican 
Church was turned into a ballroom, and fash- 
ionable routs and banquets were given there. 
Christ was betrayed in his own house, and the 
followers who did it were those he most hon- 
ored. The age was not irreligious ; there was 
pomp and zeal, but the latter was directed 
against those who would redeem men and in- 
spire England with a holier life. There were 
discussions but no revivals. High Church and 
Low Church were rending the seamless gar- 
ment of Christ, yet as for spiritual teaching 
there was but little. Some, like Bishop But- 
ler, directed the pen against the cultivated in- 
fidelity that was fast sapping the foundations 
of faith, but in the conflict erring intellect 
gained the advantage and won England's best 
and most cultivated minds away from Christ. 
Society was corrupted and its natural leaders 
were disloyal to God, and the result was 
misery and sin everywhere. Said the sneering 
Walpole, " Show me some good person about 
that court ; find me among the selfish courtiers, 
these dissolute gay people, some one being 
that I can love and regard." 



LADY HUNTINGDON. Ill 

Royalty, a law unto itself, suspended in its 
conduct the most sacred precepts of morality 
that are the security of its throne. Nobility 
followed the court and gave to the common 
people an example of moral corruption, while 
the clergy, sharing the smile of king and noble, 
with courtier grace in cassock and gown pared 
down the truth to please the royal sinners, 
praising them in life for virtues they did not 
possess, and, when gone, by fulsome eulogies 
flattered in vain the " dull cold ear of death." 
Sin abounded and brought forth crimes in all 
classes. The dark waves of wickedness surged 
higher every year, swallowing its victims from 
the lowest society unto the highest nobility. 
Punishments were increased, but crime was 
not repressed. The fear of God was ban- 
ished, and no dread of human or divine sanc- 
tions kept back noble and peasant as they sank 
in the excesses of sin. 

Such was England when this high-born lady, 
touched by the Spirit of God, entered upon 
the work of arresting vice and immorality. 
Into such a Sodom can Christian virtue enter 
and rescue the perishing? Can Methodism, 
with its stern and almost Hebraic severity, call 



I 12 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

back recreant kings to their highest allegiance, 
and nobility to its duty of service? Can its 
lofty ideal of holiness unto the Lord make 
way in palace and court ? It would seem that 
a doctrine so positive and a working theory of 
life so lofty would find no response in the 
place where even the lowest virtues of the 
Gospel were rejected ; but humanity is one, 
and the grace of Christ enters with equal power 
to save the royal sinner, like David, or the 
lowest criminal on the cross. Christ is the 
need of all men and their only satisfaction ; 
and the sorrows of the soul that often drive 
men to God are more keenly felt in palace 
and court than in cottage and in cell. The 
new life, kindled at Oxford University, was 
flowing out in rarest streams of beneficence. 
One branch was > sweeping onward toward 
Caesar's household ; another toward Cornwall ; 
and another back to the national Church. Lady 
Huntingdon, arrested by the grace of God, 
gave the revival an impulse in the highest cir- 
cles that touched even to the throne. She 
began her work in woman's highest spheres, at 
home and in society ; for it is she that gives 
color and tone to these. She can control social 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 113 

forces that in turn can change Church and 
State. Uniting herself to Wesley and White- 
field, she began at one circle while they 
wrought in another ; she preached Christ 
among the highest. 

Methodism has ever worked at both ex- 
tremes in society. A faith that cannot save all 
classes is not Christian. Methodism followed 
the form of the early Church, saving the com- 
mon people, and of honorable men and women 
not a few. On both sides of the water it 
quickly drew to its altars the natural leaders of 
society, and gave to wealth and culture a minis- 
try befitting their place. Methodism is not a 
class Church. Like its divine Head, it is no 
respecter of persons, but gives a glad welcome 
to all men. Any Church that draws a line, 
inviting one class and excluding another, is 
not of Christ. Any Church that cannot reach 
the highest as well as the lowest is not of 
Christ. Humanity is a seamless garment, and 
none may in the name of Christ rend it. 

The peril of Methodism is in its neglect of 
the natural leadership of society. Among its 
erring clergy it is taught that we have no min- 
istry for the refined and cultivated and those 



1 14 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

of high birth. Such ministers betray Christ 
under the form of an agrarian Gospel and find 
their proper place in the Salvation Army, with 
all its blessings and perversions of the Gospel 
of truth. 

Lady Huntingdon proved the sincerity of 
her conversion by her missionary work. It 
was not long before the field opened and she 
entered, and right loyally did she do her work. 
It needed no seer's vision to discern the field. 
She would be out of her sphere at court, and 
yet her life had been spent there. She had 
been bred in England's highest society, and 
by gentle birth and training was fitted to shine 
among its brightest social stars. She knew the 
court ; had shone in its light and sat in silence 
beneath its shadows ; for that high society had 
its tragedies that wounded many a child of for- 
tune. 

Passion, war, and pleasure had snatched 
many who were brave and high born, and they 
were gone, leaving behind dishonored names. 
Her field was home ; her drawing room, before 
the center of wit, refinement, and fashion, now 
became the center of religion. Hither came 
Wesley and Whitefield. Here conferences are 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 115 

held about the great revival that is quickening 
into new life the pulse of England's religious 
life now ebbing so low, and they find in her 
a friend that is at one with them in all 
plans to give back to the people the Gospel of 
Christ. 

She began with her own class. She would 
not abandon the natural place God had as- 
signed her, but felt she was called to work in 
the class of which she was a member. Lady 
Huntingdon's decision reveals the splendid 
courage of her convictions and also the means 
by which strong character is formed. Certain 
religious virtues ripen in solitude, but for a 
full rounded character you must have society. 
The soldier of Christ needs the battle and bap- 
tisms of blood to develop heroism. Her 
method was apostolic ; Andrew sought first 
those of nearest relation and led them to Jesus ; 
Lady Huntingdon did the same. She took up 
the fallen scepter of the Christ until the highest 
should see in him a King unto whom all owed 
allegiance. She wasted no time in schemes of 
fancy, but in practical work honors her Master. 
That same audacity which made her a leader in 

the world now pushed her to the front in the 
9 



I 1 6 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

new movement. She entered court now, not 
to please and be pleased, but to lead men and 
women to Christ. The high position was held 
only as a means to lead the highest unto 
Christ. All the beauty of form, the charming 
wit, and indefinable grace that come of gentle 
birth and good breeding were held as dower to 
advance the new faith. She realized the true 
idea of life, that "no man liveth unto himself." 
Her conversion only brought out the true no- 
bility that is latent in all men ; and her life is 
but an illustration of that new nobility which 
allies high birth to reverent service ; yea, 
that honors all gifts as stewardship and lov- 
ingly yields them to the Christ. She would 
not use her wealth and position as her own. 
Her social ideas were of the Gospel. She says, 
" For when I gave myself to the Lord I like- 
wise devoted to him all my fortune, with this 
reserve, that I would take with a sparing hand 
what might be necessary for my food and rai- 
ment and for the support of my children, 
should they be reduced." She would have con- 
sidered herself a thief had she used her wealth 
as her own. She was high and lifted up, but 
she used her position only to elevate others. 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 117 

Every power was consecrated so that by " all 
means she might save some." 

Her first ministry was among her peers, and 
at once the new faith was evident. Such a radi- 
cal change as came over her life would natu- 
rally be noticed. Her home was changed ; the 
new faith brought new duties and opened new 
channels of activity. Her home became a 
house of God ; a Bethel in which he is hon- 
ored, it became a Bethlehem where the bread 
of heaven was found. Her house in" London 
was opened to God's servants, and prayer and 
preaching were heard in its spacious halls. Her 
country houses were opened and the Cross was 
preached in the house. At Donnington Park 
and Chelsea she dispensed a refined hospi- 
tality. In London she entertained the whole 
Wesleyan Conference. Her delight was in God's 
servants, and they found in her home a prophet's 
chamber ever open to them, and gracious hos- 
pitality accorded unto them. 

Now opens a beautiful page of that life. 
She has position, she has wealth, she has social 
prestige, and she does what such a woman 
ought to do but rarely does — she uses all these 
for Christ. Wealth does not make her exclu- 



1 1 8 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

sive, high lineage does not drive her away from 
God's less favored children. Her station claims 
no exemptions from service. She turns her 
home into a house of prayer and invites the 
nobility to come and hear the word of God. 
She does not get away from her former associ- 
ates, but draws nearer ; she forsakes not her 
worldly friends, but sups with the Pharisees and 
sinners, and invites them to sup with her. 

It is hard to keep pure and holy in the world, 
but that is the converted woman's place. 
Lady Huntingdon did not drop a former 
friend nor lessen, but increased, her interest 
in them. She would open her drawing room, 
and the flower of England's nobility w T ould 
enter; she would send letters to her peers 
and then invite Wesley and Whitefield to 
preach, and they would preach and sinners 
were converted. The Gospel which was 
preached at Rome under Paul, and found a 
lodgment in Caesar's household, winning to the 
despised faith the families of the Gracchi and 
Bruti, was also the power of God unto salva- 
tion at the Saxon court. 

The prayers of this modern Paula were an- 
swered, and many men and women of honorable 



LADY HUNTINGDON. I 19 

estate were converted. Her husband's sisters, 
Lady Elizabeth and Lady Margaret Hastings, 
had already accepted the new faith. The Earl 
of Dartmouth and his wife had been touched by 
the grace of God and professed faith in Christ. 
The Earl of Buchan finds Christ and dies 
happy in the Lord. Lady Fitzgerald, grand- 
daughter of the Earl of Bristol and lady of the 
bedchamber to Princess Amelia Sophia, turns 
from court life to find in Christ a satisfaction 
for her faith. She unites with Wesley's soci- 
eties, and, after a long life of holiness and good 
deeds, ascends in a chariot of fire to meet her 
Lord. When lingering in agony from having 
been burned the aged saint calmly said, " I 
might as well go home this way as any other." 
Her body sleeps in City Road Chapel Ceme- 
tery beside those she so tenderly loved in life. 
One noble family after another is swept into 
the new movement until the higher life of 
England is being purified. The revival wave 
sweeps beyond the Tweed, and through the 
Methodists at the English court the nobility 
of Scotland are converted. Among the highest 
are the Duke of Argyle, the Earl of Aberdeen, 
and Lady Glenorchy, who has been called the 



120 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

Selina Huntingdon of Scotland. So strong 
was the influence of Lady Huntingdon and 
her friends that nobility coming to court were 
converted. Lady Maxwell left her home in 
Edinburgh for London to be presented at 
court, and she was converted. The friend and 
correspondent of Wesley, a beautiful pattern 
of holiness, a benefactress to the Church, 
she died the oldest member at the time of 
the Wesleyan Society. Wonderful the influ- 
ence of this godly woman, and most signal 
the power of God to save to the uttermost all 
who call upon him. Even royalty came to 
the drawing room at Donnington Park to hear 
the Gospel, and the daughters of the king were 
convicted and converted. Among the most 
devoted Methodist women of that day were 
the Countess, wife of the Earl of Chesterfield, 
and her sister, the Countess Delitze, both 
daughters of George I. The former came to 
court in plain raiment befitting a Christian, ar- 
resting the attention of the queen, who said, 
" I know who chose that dress for you, Mr. 
Whitefield, and I hear that you have attended 
a year and a half on his ministry." "Yes," said 
the countess, " and I like him very well." 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 121 

Not more wonderful was the revival among 
the masses of the people than among the no- 
bility. The same fruits abounded everywhere. 
The ladies in waiting at court and men in high 
positions lived the same lives of purity as the 
miners of Cornwall and those of lowest estate. 
Men and women of title and fortune became 
evangelists of the new theology, opened their 
houses for worship, and themselves conducted 
the service. 

A prominent feature of the new reformation 
was its ministry in the homes. It is true 
Churches were largely closed. Not only were 
clergymen like Mr. Wesley forbidden the pul- 
pits of the national Church, nobility also had 
the doors closed on it. Anglicanism was no 
respecter of persons in the treatment of the 
new enthusiasm, and women like the Countess 
of Huntingdon and men like the Earl of Dart- 
mouth were excluded from the parish churches 
as quickly as the minister of humble fame. 

But this exclusion proved one of the most 
successful means to advance the cause of truth. 
The clergy close the churches, the nobility 
open their houses. The palatial homes of the 
nobility swung open, and men and ministers, 



122 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

denied the Church, found in the home a better 
means to convert men. The oldest houses of 
England became preaching places. Lord Dart- 
mouth opened his home, as did Lady Hotham ; 
the Earl of Chesterfield, himself a skeptic, 
yielded to his wife's demand, and their home was 
opened. Then followed her sister, the Countess 
Delitze, until at last all over England the closed 
church found a substitute in the home. In 
Scotland Lady Glenorchy followed the example 
of the English nobility, while Lady Maxwell 
not only opened her house, but herself conducted 
service, dismissed her chaplain, and used the 
money saved to increase her work of charity 
that lives even unto this day. How strange 
God's providence ! God's greater temple un- 
dented is open to the thousands that gather 
beneath its starlit dome, and the private house 
for those of repute — multitudes at dawn of 
day rushing out to hear Whttefield and Wes- 
ley, and in the evening the elite of English 
society waiting at Lady Huntingdon's home or 
at one of her friends. Methodism began with 
the church in the home, and her faith, a know- 
able personal God, is best fitted for its privacy. 
In God's thought all places are holy and none 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 123 

more hallowed than the home consecrated to 
God. Coincident with house preaching was 
lay preaching. Laymen of highest rank ex- 
pounded the Scriptures. Women of the nobil- 
ity not only opened their parlors but held 
Bible readings. They even went further and 
led in prayer, and without a prayer book ! 
Lady Huntingdon stood modestly before a 
large congregation in her drawing room, and 
commended her worshipers unto God. Her 
ardent soul, filled with the love of God, needed 
no earthly teacher to instruct her to talk to 
God. She was familiar with his presence, and 
talked as sweetly and reverentially as an angel. 
She had her chaplains, even the eloquent 
Whitefield, but she prayed and even talked. We 
will not say where the reform was most benefi- 
cial, in touching the great mass of the people 
sunk into materialism and corruption, or in 
arousing the leaders of a nation to their duty 
unto God. No nation can be quickened and 
blessed when only one class is redeemed. The 
yoke of sin is a double yoke and binds him who 
enslaves as well as his victim ; and the con- 
version of England's nobility was as blessed 
in results to the nation as that of the com- 



124 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

mon people who received the Gospel so gladly. 
Methodism has ever loved the home ; it is a 
home religion ; it is of the heart ; it is personal ; 
not depreciating the outward ordinances, it still 
holds Christian fellowship highest. It has been 
perpetuated by these home temples. From the 
days of Lady Huntingdon to those of Phcebe 
Palmer the highest life of our Church has been 
fed by the worship of God in the drawing 
room. Hither came to Lady Huntingdon's 
home in London, to Lady Maxwell's home in 
Edinburgh, to Phcebe Palmer's home in New 
York city, men and women who would know 
more perfectly the way of salvation. Hither 
came the timid saint, hungering for a feast it 
knew was before it, but not attained. Hither 
came those in high places, like Joseph of 
Arimathea, to know in private what Christ 
delights to give. Hither came the high born 
and the lowly to find the blessings of the up- 
per room were not exhausted. Sad indeed 
will that day be for our loved Church when 
only in the public temple shall God be known 
and served. An imperative need to-day 
throughout all our large cities is just such 
meetings as Lady Huntingdon started in Lon- 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 25 

don. There are palatial homes in all cities 
that should be devoted not only to good 
cheer but also to hallowed worship. Method- 
ism will not advance on the higher lines of life 
if it does not return to its earlier forms of 
worship. Some godly woman, unto whom 
has been given wealth, culture, and position, 
should open her parlor doors and have wor- 
ship. In Philadelphia a holy woman * for years 
made her parlor a Bethesda, and gathered, like 
the good countess, God's servants around her 
and preached the word of God. When age 
drew on, and her earthly ministry closed, her 
noble daughter f took up the work, and in per- 
petuating a mother's work continued the Mas- 
ter's love. God speaks to-day to the Method- 
ist sisterhood of Philadelphia to continue that 
work so nobly done; and we know that_no 
one would aid more efficiently than she who 
sits in the silence of her great sorrow — a grief 
fresh and piercing, but made endurable by the 
memory of a noble husband's life and an an- 
ticipation of a glorious immortality. 

Lady Huntingdon aroused as much spiritual 
life in high places as was awakened in the 

* Mrs. James Longacre. f Mrs. John F. Keen. 



126 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

lower classes, and noble men and women were 
as zealous as those having less of earth to bind 
them. The conversation of the court was 
changed. Women caught the spirit of the 
new evangel and bore witness for Christ every- 
where. Lady Huntingdon, often at court, was 
always talking religion. A new theme held 
these high-born souls, and, filled with the Spirit, 
they delighted to witness for Jesus. 

But the millennium had not yet come, nor 
were these men and women exempt from the 
offense of the Cross. Satan had too strong a 
hold on these German sultans and their wicked 
followers to surrender at once. Violence 
was not used, but ridicule and the sneer, to 
decry the new faith. Walpole, ever on the 
alert to impale saint or sinner, calls Lady 
Huntingdon the " Queen of the Methodists." 
He says : " Lord Littleton has chosen this way 
of sacrificing the dregs of all those various 
characters he had borne." His keenest shaft 
is aimed at Lady Townsend, who, he says, 
" goes armed with every viaticum, the Church 
of England in one hand, Methodism in the 
other, and the Host in her mouth." At last 
he gives it up and writes to Sir Horace 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 27 

Mann, " You must prepare yourself with Meth- 
odism. I really believe by that time it will be 
necessary ; this sect is increasing as fast as al- 
most any religious nonsense ever did." 

Walpole, witty and wicked, was not snared 
by the despised creed. He resisted, as many 
others did. Evidently Whitefield and Wesley 
held up the Gospel mirror and did not com- 
promise it, or it would not have had such op- 
posite effects : the Countess of Suffolk, a court 
favorite, attends, and she sees herself an out- 
' cast before God, and goes away outraged that 
Whitefield pilloried her before men ; the Duch- 
ess of Buckingham accepts Lady Huntingdon's 
invitation, and is among the high-born sinners 
that came to hear the word of God. Lis- 
ten to what she writes ; it is fresh : " I thank 
you, Lady Huntingdon, for the information 
concerning the Methodist preachers. Their 
doctrines are most repulsive in perpetually en- 
deavoring to level all ranks and do away with 
all distinctions. It is monstrous to be told 
that you have a heart as sinful as the common 
wretches that crawl on the earth. This is 
highly offensive and insulting, and I cannot but 
wonder that your ladyship should relish any 



128 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

sentiment so much at variance with high birth 
and good breeding." 

Another historic character, the Duchess of 
Marlborough, appears in the ministry of Lady 
Huntingdon — one of a family well known 
through an American woman notoriously bear- 
ing its famous name. Sarah Jennings was a 
character, an intensely worldly if not a wicked 
woman, but, like many of England's highest 
families, she felt the attractive charm of Lady 
Huntingdon, who tried to convert her grace 
and failed. The hardest subject for Christly 
endeavor is a worldly society woman ; and 
Sarah, who had ruled the Iron Duke and 
Queen Anne, and trampled upon lower stations, 
found it hard to bow before the Cross. She was 
invited to hear Whitefield, and writes : " God 
knows we all need mending, none more than 
myself. I have lived to see great changes in 
the world ; have acted a conspicuous part my- 
self, and now hope in my old days to obtain 
mercy from my God, as I never expect it at 
the hands of my fellow-creatures." Again she 
writes : "I have no comfort in my own family. 
In fact, I always feel more happy and more 
contented after an hour's conversation with 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 29 

you than after a whole week's round of amuse- 
ments. When alone my reflections almost kill 
me, and I am forced to fly to the society of 
those I detest. Now, there is Lady Frances 
Saunderson's great rout to-morrow night. 
All the Avorld will be there, and I must go. I 
do hate that woman as much as I hate a physi- 
cian, but I must go, if for no other reason than 
to mortify and spite her. This is very wicked, 
but I confess all my little peccadilloes to you." 
What a picture of a worldly woman, painted 
by herself! It may not suffer from comparison 
with the portrait of her granddaughter, which 
she painted black and wrote beneath it, " It is 
not half as black without as it is within." 
This richest woman in England revealed her 
vigor in her late surrender of life, and her fight 
and victory over grim death forms one of the 
most delightful reminiscences of her life. She 
lingered beyond her allotted years, to the 
grief of her kindred, who wanted her estate. 
As she lay in her bed with eyes closed the 
doctors said, " Friends, it will be of no use, 
but we will blister her and give her some pills." 
Heroic soul, she opened her eyes and said, " I 
will not be blistered, nor take your pills, nor 



130 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

die ! " and she kept her word. None would 
chide the good countess if she failed to lead 
her grace to the Cross, but all must commend 
that wondrous charm that could draw even 
Sarah Jennings to her side. How wise this 
godly woman, and how constant her ministry 
in high places ! How true to her position ! 
She would influence leadership for Christ, and 
talk religion to those who stood highest in 
social life. It is as much the duty of the Chris- 
tian to convert the noble as the ignoble — to 
save the high born as well as the low born. 
Sinners in brown-stone houses need Christ as 
well as sinners in the cottages. Early Method- 
ism, while seeking the common people, set its 
heart upon the highest, and among its most 
worthy names are those of highest estate, whose 
noble birth was made still nobler by the holi- 
ness of their lives. Capture leadership for 
Christ was the command of Bishop Simpson, 
and wiser words were never spoken. Eternity 
only will reveal the wealth of service rendered 
by Lady Huntingdon. 

Although the sneer followed, and always will 
follow when men earnestly do the work of 
Christ, yet none can do Christ's work without 



LADY HUNTINGDON. > 131 

finding recognition. Christ's work is its own 
best reward, and that is enough for all Chris- 
tians ; but words of approval all appreciate, and 
Lady Huntingdon, sneered at and called a 
hypocrite, still had among those highest in po- 
sition her friends. Her name was discussed at 
court and her absence noted. In early life she 
had attended frequently the court of Fred- 
erick, Prince of Wales, and one day the prince 
inquired of Lady Charlotte Edwin where was 
Lady Huntingdon, that she so seldom visited 
the circle. The lady of fashion replied with 
a sneer, " I suppose down praying with her 
beggars." The Prince of Wales turned and, 
shaking his head, said, " Lady Charlotte, when 
I am dying I think I shall be happy to seize 
the skirt of Lady Huntingdon's mantle to lift 
me up into heaven." Edward, Duke of York, 
felt the spell of her influence, and when, in a dis- 
cussion, a sermon was called Methodistical, he 
replied, " You are fastidious indeed. I thought 
it was excellent. I have the honor of being 
of the same opinion as Lady Huntingdon, and 
I rather fancy, that she is better versed in 
theology than any of us." 

Her influence over the highest circles of 
10 



132 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

England increased every day from her conse- 
cration. Diligent in the Master's business, 
every means was used to draw men and women 
out of sin. We wonder how she could stem 
the tide of open wickedness that surged round 
the court of the Georges, when kings were 
social outlaws, setting at naught the laws they 
imposed on their subjects and mocking the 
rule of the King of kings, and when queens 
were infidels, or only Christians in outward 
worship, and impure in secret. But this 
woman wore the soldier's raiment under the 
saint's cassock. Her religion was intensely 
militant. It was healthy ; it had in it the grit 
of her race. It was sentiment high and lofty ; 
not that light, frivolous faith that flows out in 
such ditties as " O, to be nothing " or " Come, 
angel band, and bear me away safely on your 
snowy wings." Her faith was a holier impulse, 
that made every fiber tingle with life and 
aroused every activity for Christ. The Briton's 
valor never shone out more clearly than in this 
woman's life. In a holier war she kept up that 
splendid daring which has ever made the little 
island conspicuous in history. There was the 
old prophetic fire in her words, and its protest 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 33 

in her conduct. Profane history has no rarer 
scene of courage than that of this holy woman 
facing a recreant bishop and demanding in the 
name of his Church that he conduct himself 
as a minister and command his household. 
The wife of his grace the Archbishop of 
Canterbury gave several large balls and 
convivial routs at Lambeth Palace. She 
eclipsed everybody by the magnificence of her 
entertainments. Men and women ate and 
drank until the hallowed place was a revolting 
scene. Society was scandalized ; religion was 
profaned at such unheard-of conduct in the 
head of the Church, and Lady Huntingdon 
protested. She went to the palace and pro- 
tested against the desecration of the holy 
place and unfitness of their conduct. And 
what a reception! "Who," said the wife as- 
piring to social leadership, " made you a regu- 
lator of morals?" The husband, Dr. Corn- 
wallis, forgot the dignity of his office and 
ridiculed, stigmatizing her as a hypocrite and 
Methodist. Many a woman would have with- 
ered before such treatment and wept in silence ; 
but not Lady Huntingdon. She was made 
of sterner stuff, and left, telling them they 



I 34 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

should yet observe the proprieties of religion. 
See her again as she stands in the palace of 
the king. She has strengthened her position 
by taking two leading Methodists, Lady An- 
caster and Lord Dartmouth. It was the first 
delegation of Methodists to protest against sin 
in high places — the establishment of a prece- 
dent that has ever since been carried out at St. 
James and the White House, and with most 
beneficial effect. The king listened, and said, 
" Madam, the feelings you have discussed and 
the conduct you have adopted on this occasion 
are highly creditable to you." It need only 
be said that no more balls were given in the 
bishop's palace and that Lord Cornwallis 
never afterward was seen at court. 

The Gospel is something more than mere ex- 
ample. It is a militant spirit; it means judi- 
cial rights. Christianity is a great protest 
against wickedness in all places, and if it be a 
bishop or king it dares to say, " Thou shalt 
not." Lady Huntingdon suffered, for she was 
a refined, educated woman, feeling most keenly 
the respect of her sex and position, and it re- 
quired no little courage for a woman in private 
position to dare what she did. But she never 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 35 

flinched in what to her was duty. She showed 
rarest wisdom in taking her position, and then 
never retreated. The judicial sense was strongly 
developed in her, and came out on many oc- 
casions. She would defraud no one and would 
allow no one to defraud her. She held op- 
pression in abomination and rebuked it. She 
was the defender of a new theology, and the 
helpless Methodist found in her a stanch 
friend. When a judge did an iniquitous deed 
she compelled a retraction ; when a bishop 
slandered her chaplains she made him apolo- 
gize ; when a poor man was sent to Newgate 
unjustly she would get his release; she would 
personally visit the prison, find who were im- 
prisoned for small debts, pay the same, and 
send the men home. When magistrates would 
illegally imprison Methodists she would cham- 
pion them and have them discharged and the 
rulers rebuked. She had the courage of a 
Knox, and would face a king as easily as a 
peasant. There is something almost sublime 
in this noble woman standing between a little 
band of godly people and a great national 
Church that stamped everything spiritual as 
enthusiasm and condemned all reforms as 



I36 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

fanaticism and democracy, now confronting 
bishops who despise and clergy who persecute, 
and again standing before civil authorities and 
saving helpless men from being haled to pris- 
on. Lady Huntingdon was a representative 
Methodist. She had the superb audacity that 
comes from the consciousness of an indwelling 
God, the stern conviction of justice that comes 
through justification by faith in Christ, and 
that sublime charity which flows out of a heart 
filled with the love of God. 

Persecution never intimidated, and, strange 
for a woman, ridicule fell harmless on her heart. 
She writes : " Many secret and shameful en- 
emies of the Gospel by His will appear. The 
particulars would amuse you, and, blessed be 
God, they rejoice me, as good must follow 
from it. They called out in the open streets 
for me, saying if they had me they would tear 
me to pieces ; but, alas ! this does not prove 
that it is the Lord that offends them, and so 
must he continue to the unregenerate heart." 
The mob were at her feet howling, and a dis- 
solute nobility at her head. Bishops that 
should have rejoiced at the new revival which 
was to save the Church and give it a new lease 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 37 

of life were most severe against her. Women 
in high places, whose dearest interests were 
being ruined by the social confusion, and were 
suffering the penalties of lawlessness, instead 
of rallying to her were ever at work to dispar- 
age her. Strange that her defense in highest 
place came from royalty. Bishops persecuted, 
but royalty protected ; noble women sneered, 
but kings and princes commended. The Ger- 
man kings, while great sinners, saw plainly this 
woman's good work, and always defended her 
at their courts. When the king commanded 
the Archbishop of Canterbury to stop his balls 
in Lambeth Palace, and to remember his sacred 
office and honor it, society's " four hundred " 
raised up their hands in holy horror, and the 
poor countess was the subject of severest com- 
ments. One day, at court, her name was dis- 
cussed, and a lady of rank said, " She must be 
deranged in intellect." The king, who had 
listened, replied in great quickness, " Deranged, 
madam, did you say?" "Yes, please your 
majesty, for no one in sane mind could have 
had the impertinence to preach to his grace 
the archbishop." The king laughed heartily, 
and wanted to know what his grace had said ; 



I38 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

if he had given Lady Huntingdon his blessing. 
" His blessing ! " said the marchioness, " no, in- 
deed, please your majesty." At last the king 
said, " Pray, madam, are you acquainted with 
her?" " No," replied she. "Have you ever 
been in company with her?" "Never," re- 
plied the astonished marchioness. Then said 
the king, " Never form your opinion from the 
ill-natured remarks and censures of others. 
Judge for yourself, and you have my permis- 
sion at least to tell everybody how highly I 
think of Lady Huntingdon." 

Lady Huntingdon quietly withdrew from 
court. Like the Countess of Chesterfield, 
Countess Delitze, and others, she had not only 
seen the hollowness of fashion but had tasted 
the joys of a higher life. She abandoned court, 
but not the royal sinners. Her faith was stern 
and uncompromising, and she impressed it upon 
all around her. After her husband's death, 
when the rule of her home fell upon her, she 
commanded her household, saying for them, 
" We will serve the Lord." She had no social 
ambitions to gain a high place here and lose the 
soul. What a lesson for American women, who 
will sell their daughters for a title and sacrifice 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 39 

their religion to enter court, is the conduct of 
this Spartan mother, who withdrew her daugh- 
ter from court ! Walpole with a sneer cried 
out, "Lady Huntingdon, the queen of the 
Methodists, named her daughter for lady of the 
bed-chamber to the princess, but it is all off 
again, as she will not let her play cards on the 
Sabbath." Her conduct may seem puritanical, 
but that woman was right ; she held her child's 
spiritual life of utmost value and would not 
consent to imperil it at any cost. She would 
not lead in her family a dual life, or, like 
many so-called Christian parents, herself wor- 
ship God and allow her children all the 
wicked diversions of society. She did not wor- 
ship God and in sweet charity allow children 
to seek their own altar. I admire this strong- 
principled woman, and if more homes were 
consecrated as her home more children would 
rise up to call their parents blessed. 

Lady Huntingdon "revealed eminent wisdom 
in the field of her w r ork. It was among 
those nearest to her. We are obligated to 
our class, and a wise man will take advan- 
tage of that for Christ. Wesley, converted, 
reached Oxford students because of his intel- 



140 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

lectual sympathy with them. Lady Hunting- 
don gained over the nobility because of the 
bond of social sympathy. The converted 
nobleman was set to work to convert his 
brother. Mr. Moody has in an eminent degree 
carried out in our day the same method, by 
making the converted policeman an evangel- 
ist to his class, and by this rule has won many 
to Christ. This woman wrought a work 
among the nobility that cannot be estimated. 
Through her, Wesley, and Whitefield the social 
life of the nobility was simply revolutionized. 
Ancient houses, famed for a hospitality that 
ended in dissolute living, now became houses 
of prayer. Where before the wine-cup was 
filled in libations to Bacchus, now in loving 
loyalty to Christ was poured out " the chalice 
of the grapes of God." Homes of pleasure 
became houses of worship. Lady Hunt- 
ingdon's home is the cathedral house of the 
new faith, and here her chaplains preach to 
those who will not attend the church. The 
divine chrism falls upon laymen, and men tell 
the story of Christ. The Holy Spirit gives his 
own ordination, and woman's sweet voice is 
heard in prayer. Her spacious homes are 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 141 

thronged, and at her call come nobility and 
kings' sons and daughters. To her conven- 
ticle come bishops even to hear the chaplain 
Whitefield. Behind the screen in the " Nico- 
demus corner " sit the highest in Church and 
State to hear the word of God, and not without 
effect. The world has never seen a picture 
like that which followed the Wesleyan revival. 
In all ages of the Christian Church we see 
nothing like this gathering of the higher life 
of a nation around the Cross. In the earlier 
reformation nobility drew the sword and 
was at one with Luther, Calvin, and Knox. 
The lofty faith of a Gustavus Adolphus de- 
generated to a political ambition, dimming the 
brightest star of the Middle Ages ; but here 
only a divine Christ and a spiritual faith draw 
together men and women. No political com- 
pacts mingle ; no political rewards allure ; the 
attractive grace is the Gospel of Christ, and it 
runs and is glorified. To her spacious homes 
come in glad welcome the ministers of God. 
Fletcher, purest saint of Britian, writes to 
the daughter of the king, " Good Lady Hunt- 
ingdon goes on acting the part of a good 
mother in Israel more and more. For a day 



142 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

or two she has had five clergymen under her 
roof, which makes her ladyship look like a 
good archbishop with his chaplains around him. 
Her house is a Bethel to us in the ministry. 
It looks like a college. We have the sacra- 
ment every morning. This is the life at court 
indeed." Well may Fletcher say, " It is court 
life indeed ; " for in its beauty and culture, its 
refinement and spirituality, and its good cheer 
and fellowship it would seem to be a very 
antepast of our Father's house, the court of 
heaven. 

Lady Huntingdon's efforts were not confined 
to one class. Christianity is not a caste religion, 
it has no class distinctions. Her ministry 
began in a natural way with those of her own 
station and immediate relation. But soon 
new opportunities came as the religious move- 
ment spread. Her nature widened in all direc- 
tions ; there was a symmetrical unfolding of her 
Christian life ; she was not narrow and strong, 
but broad and deep. The touch of Christ had 
put her in loving sympathy with all men. 
Nothing belonging to humanity was alien to her. 
In her every good cause found a friend and 
every good man a sister. Very quickly she 



LADY HUNTINGDON. I43 

drifted beyond her station, not abandoning it, 
but enlarging it. Of most exclusive family, 
she would honor the lowest. Spiritual insight 
revealed to her that beneath all fictions of 
place rested true manhood. Conversion is a 
wondrous uplift. In the regeneration no man 
is common, and she recognized it. Her con- 
descension is a fine trait, for social lines were 
most closely drawn and nobility was hedged 
around as by a wall. There was but little rec- 
ognition of the common people ; the shop- 
keeper would stand, hat in hand, before my 
lord. A smile from royalty would make the 
wife of a commoner nervous with delight, so 
rarely were the courtesies exchanged between 
the classes. The proud noble would not con- 
descend to greet on equal footing one of lowly 
birth ; but this woman of royal lineage honored 
all men. Christianity is not a leveler, but an 
exalter. Methodism is a foe to all caste, and 
in its noblest disciples has ever taught that all 
men are equal before God. Presbyterianism 
is the political faith of republics ; but Method- 
ism is the spiritual creed of democracy. This 
woman's break with false social traditions was 
the natural fruit of her faith, which taught 



144 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

that Christ died for all men. Redeemed of 
God, the conventional distinctions became sec- 
ondary ; the rank is but the guinea stamp ; 
the "man's a man for a' that." In her conde- 
scension to the poor we see true nobility ; for 
there is no better mark of gentle breeding than 
thoughtfulness of God's poor. She had a mes- 
sage for the highest in her home and a mes- 
sage and ministry for the lowest. She would 
talk with her servants, and on week days her 
kitchen was open that the poor might be in- 
structed. She used all opportunities to talk 
about Jesus. She once talked to a carpenter 
mending her garden wall, pressing him to give 
some care for his soul. Some time after she 
addressed another on the same subject, saying, 
" Thomas, I fear you never pray nor look to 
Christ for salvation." "Your ladyship is mis- 
taken. I heard what took place between you 
and James, and it took effect on me." " How 
did you hear it ? " "I heard it on the other 
side through a hole in the wall." No service 
was too humble for this high-born lady. 
What a ministering angel unto the poor and 
afflicted ! To-day her carriage stands by New- 
gate and she pays the fine of the poor convict 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 45 

imprisoned for debt ; to-morrow by the man- 
sion of nobility leading earls and knights to 
Christ. No duty was evaded, no opportunity 
was denied, no disease could frighten. We see 
her a sister of charity by the bedside of Mrs. 
Charles Wesley. The loathsome smallpox 
does not prevent her, but love speeds her to 
the side of her friend. Suffering and sorrow, 
sin and misery, met her on every hand ; but 
instead of fleeing the sight she nerved herself 
single-handed to fight, and did it most bravely. 
She counted not her life dear unto herself, but 
became fully absorbed in the sacred ministries 
of the new reformation that was sweeping over 
England. Most Christly the path of this 
woman ; she gave herself to work for Christ, 
and in so doing gave a new ideal to women of 
favored position. She created by her life a 
new order of nobility, in which high birth 
yields reverent service unto God. She visited 
hospitals to reform them ; lingered among the 
schools of the poor to aid them. Like an an- 
gel of mercy she went hither and thither until 
men were startled at her work. Endowed with 
robust physical vigor, and having leisure and 
means, with increasing ardor and diligence she 



146 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

labored until her name was revered in the 
three kingdoms. 

Lady Huntingdon was a representative 
Methodist in her catholicity. She had strong 
convictions, but was tolerant ; she could recog- 
nize the saint in the Churchman and also in 
the Dissenter. Her tolerance came of deeper 
knowledge. Bigotry is but another name for 
intolerance, and spiritual ignorance is only a 
name for both. Her religion was of the high- 
est, for she attracted all men. Her drawing 
room was not the center of a sect, but a place 
for all serious men to assemble. Her gracious 
benignity allured as well as her faith ; she was 
many-sided and could touch, as but few per- 
sons, people of opposite faith and aspiration. 
We look in vain for that hidden power which 
drew to her so many men of opposite ideas. 
She received homage from saints and admira- 
tion from sinners. High Church and Low 
Church, Anglican and Presbyterian, Calvinist 
and Arminian, all gathered around her hospit- 
able board and united with her in worship. Her 
drawing room had all the brilliancy of a French 
salon with the high morality of a Puritan home, 
and was as noted for its wit and music and all 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 147 

that make up charming society as it was for its 
lofty piety. Her drawing room was filled with 
clergymen of different shades of opinion, but 
all were welcome. Her catholicity came out 
in her educational work. As the reformation 
spread not only were the Methodists expelled 
from the national Church and its ordained 
clergy denied its pulpits, but clerical malice 
completed its work by closing the universities 
against them. At one time six young men were 
expelled from Oxford. It was not for disorder 
or neglect of study ; it was because they had 
prayed without the book and had visited the 
jail to tell the story of Christ. It seems hardly 
credible that men of culture (for culture tends 
to tolerance) could have acted such a base 
part. It was not for their uncanonical con- 
duct, but because they had found out their 
antecedents and they were humble. To-day 
the Methodist revival has conquered its place, 
and the children of the persecuting Church en- 
joy the new life which it gave to the Anglican 
Church ; but we know not what privations the 
early leaders in this movement suffered when 
the churches and schools were closed. The 

proud dons of Oxford, the majority of them 
11 



I48 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

charity students themselves and educated at 
others' expense, could not endure the trades- 
man's son, but as always, in God's providence, 
a way was opened. Again comes this woman to 
the front, rents a castle, opens a school at her 
own expense, and her benefaction continues 
until young men are found in all parts of the 
world educated by her generosity. Here 
comes out again her broad, Christly spirit. 
She educates young men for the ministry, but 
includes in her charity students for the An- 
glican pulpit as well as for the Dissenting 
Churches. How beautifully she repays the 
intolerance of her mother Church ! She opens 
her school with no credal convictions or tests ; 
she excludes no Christian Church, but gladly 
welcomes members of all. We know not 
which to commend the more, the work of edu- 
cation, planting schools and a college, or her 
planting of chapels ; both are complimentary, 
but one grows out cf another. Her zeal leads 
her into evangelistic work, and we see this 
woman of highest rank driving through Eng- 
land with the clergy, waiting on the field 
preacher as he draws thousands. She does 
not preach, but stands by the preachers ; she 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 149 

begs for churches, but they are closed ; she 
pleads for a home for the new converts in the 
half empty parish houses, but rectors and cu- 
rates forbid their hungry souls the bread of 
life. She enters the waste places where the 
sweet sound of the Gospel is but a memory, 
and the lawless miner and toiler gladly hear it. 
You can trace her footsteps and those of her 
ministers by the change that has come over 
society ; you can see it in the gin houses emp- 
tied and in chapels filled ; you can read it in 
the soft accents of converted motherhood and 
in strong and pure manhood. Whole villages, 
after she has wrought in their midst, have felt 
the power of the new religion in altered lives. 
Where before was blasphemy, now praise ; 
where drunkenness, now sobriety ; where cru- 
elty, now kindness. The pall of spiritual dark- 
ness resting over England and Wales is being 
lifted ; it is the dawn of a new day, the prom- 
ised day of Israel. She is happy, and she 
might well be, for the harvest of precious souls 
increases until tens of thousands are turning 
to God. Her zeal finds sweetest reward. As 
the sheaves multiply her soul exults. She 
writes in exuberance of joy to Dr. Doddridge: 



150 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

" O, how many prophets and religious men 
have desired to see these days and have not 
seen them ! Great, great is the power of the 
Lord, and forever glorified be his name ! " 

Her success is wonderful, but it brings diffi- 
culties that only develop more fully this saint 
of God. Thousands have been converted, but 
they are homeless children. The churches of 
the nation, their right as well as that of the 
clergy, are closed, and the poor creatures, neg- 
lected by rector and curate in their sins, are 
now driven away because of their conversion, 
Wesley's and Whitefield's converts had no 
thought of leaving the Church ; they were 
simply driven out. Lady Huntingdon and 
her associates wanted, like Luther and Calvin, 
to remain in the mother Church ; but they 
were simply driven out. 

If we praise her catholicity, then we honor 
her generosity ; chapels must be built ; they are 
built. She pours her money out like water, 
now thousands, now tens of thousands. To 
build chapels she sells her country homes ; 
then her equipages go under the hammer ; at 
last her jewel-case, with its treasures, amount- 
ing to thirty-five hundred dollars. Personal 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 151 

expenses are cut down, only necessities are 
allowed her. God's work was her passion ; and 
did ever in the ages the historian pen such a 
life as this ? Her liberality knew no bounds. 
Her surrender did not leave out her purse, but 
literally all was given to Christ. There were 
no exemptions in that consecration ; time and 
fortune were given unto God. She was al- 
ways in need because she was always pouring 
out her money, until her friends kept back 
cases of necessity. Can anything be more 
touching than when she hears of a case re- 
fused ? She says to Captain Scott, her almoner, 
she could not have thought it of him, and then 
bursting into tears, exclaims : " I have never 
taken anything ill at your hands, but this I 
think is very unkind." She gave the person 
one hundred pounds. Like all who have 
wrought for God, she too had her tokens of 
answered prayer, and her extremity was God's 
opportunity for rewarding her faith. A man 
calls to advise her to stop building a chapel, 
as her funds are exhausted, and while 
he is counseling her a servant enters and 
hands her an envelope containing a check 
for five hundred pounds, the exact amount 



152 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

needed to build it ; at once she said, " Thomas, 
take it, and be no more faithless, but believ- 
ing." At another time her funds were entirely 
exhausted, and Lady Erskine, who lived with 
her, received an envelope containing five hun- 
dred pounds. She thought it a mistake, when 
a lady simply said, " Honor the Lord with the 
first fruits of all thy increase ; " and the prob- 
lem was solved. She gave, friends gave, and 
the Lord gave. The revival was spreading 
over England, and increasing needs came every 
clay, and diligently this woman responded to 
them. The Church had no welcome for new 
converts, and she stood in place of the na- 
tion, opening up her purse until over sixty 
chapels were built almost entirely by her kind- 
ness. These she would hand over to the 
Church, but the conditions were not accepted, 
and she turned, as it were, bishop herself. She 
superintended her home ; she put godly men 
in her own living ; she consulted Wesley and 
Whitefield as to ministers to fill her chapels. 
We are lost in astonishment at how she could 
accomplish so much ; but she had grace and dil- 
igence, and did wonders. She herself turned 
itinerant and was found in England and Wales 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 53 

planting churches and fostering schools. Her 
benefactions ran into hundreds of thousands; 
over a half a million of dollars were given by 
this woman, and the fruit of her beneficence was 
seen in chapels multiplied, schools, hospitals, 
orphanages, and a college. Her superintend- 
ency of these shows a mind of great capacity 
and a heart broad and full of sweetest charity. 
Call her a bishop, as the king did, and you 
really describe her work at this time. A prel- 
ate called on his majesty, complaining of some 
of her ladyship's preachers. " Make bishops 
of them, make bishops of them," said the 
king. "But," replied the bishop, "we cannot 
make a bishop of Lady Huntingdon, please 
your majesty." " Well, well," said the king, 
" see if you cannot imitate the zeal of those 
men. As for her ladyship, you cannot make 
a bishop of her, it is true ; it would be a lucky 
circumstance if you could, for she puts you 
all to shame." His lordship made some reply 
which did not please the king, and he said with 
some warmth, " I wish there was a Lady 
Huntingdon in every diocese of the kingdom." 
Versatile and accomplished, she used all her 
talents to serve God, and at last she found a 



154 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

recognition in all classes. Reformation of 
morals followed wherever this woman and her 
ministers went, and a pure life began to be 
seen from the homes of England's highest to 
those of the lowest. Lady Huntingdon's ac- 
tivities increased until her benevolence blessed 
two continents. As the new revival swept 
over the sea, creating a new spiritual life in 
the American colonies, she entered America. 
Wesley and Whitefield and Tennent had been 
along the Atlantic coast, and the neglected 
Anglicans and Presbyterians in the wilderness 
had been quickened into new life by these 
John the Baptists. Thousands of lapsed 
Christians had been recalled, and many never 
knowing Christ had joyfully found him. The 
whole Atlantic coast had been aroused, and this 
woman must share in the work. She educates 
young men ; has them ordained and sent to 
the New World. Georgia receives her preacher 
Whitefield ; she builds there an orphanage, and 
sinks thirty thousand dollars in it — or, rather, 
the revolt of the colonies took place, and her 
property was unjustly confiscated. She showed 
her noble nature toward an unjust republic. 
It confiscated her property in Georgia ; she ap- 



LADY HUNTINGDON. I 55 

pealed, but it was not restored. Laurens, Pres- 
ident of the American Congress, was captured 
by the British, imprisoned in the Tower of 
London, and this woman secured his freedom. 
That deed has on it the stamp of Christian 
nobility. America lay near her heart and 
Americans always received a kind hospitality 
at her home. She kept in touch with all its 
movements, social, political, and religious. Her 
love knew no bounds, and she gave as freely 
to America as to England. Her home was the 
center for Americans, and they all felt the sub- 
tle power of her life. Franklin was a personal 
friend and appointed by her trustee of the 
orphanage fund which the government stole. 
She was the generous patron of the University 
of Pennsylvania, and through Whitefield made 
the academy possible out of which it sprung. 
She gave to the Log College, now Princeton 
University. She begged her friends to aid it. 
President Burr was her correspondent, and also 
Governor Belcher, of New Jersey. Princeton 
was founded by the liberal wing of the Calvin- 
ists, being the outgrowth of the revival. What 
would Dickinson and Tennent think if, com- 
ing back, they were to find a school they had 



I 56 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

planted in protest against Calvinism to-day, 
under its scholarly president, the defender of 
its extremest dogma ? How far the separation 
in thought from President Davies, the friend 
and correspondent of Wesley! Her money 
aided Dartmouth, the college in the wilder- 
ness ; and through her instrumentality its 
founder and patron, Lord Dartmouth, was 
brought to Christ, and lived and died a Meth- 
odist. Her hand was ready for every good work. 
She was deeply interested in American poli- 
tics and was the counselor and correspond- 
ent of Washington. She had plans for In- 
dian missions, to educate and do for them 
what our government a hundred years after 
began ; but the war of the colonies frustrated 
her design. When the long war was over, 
and the colonies were a separate nation, she 
accepted the inevitable, and instead of har- 
boring hate, like her nation, this woman 
changed her plan and moved on the na- 
tion. History has nothing like her project of 
capturing a new continent for Christ. The 
colonies, by the arbitrament of the sword, are 
free and the States are sovereign. She sees 
the opportunity across the sea and prepares a 



LADY HUNTINGDON. I $7 

circular letter addressed to each governor 
of the States, providing a way to Christianize 
the inhabitants, white, Indian, and Negro. 
Hear an extract from her letters to Washington, 
written in 1784, the year our Church was 
organized. It is on the subject of missions ; 
she wanted her orphanage funds to go to mis- 
sions, and writes our first President as follows : 
" I have therefore taken the liberty of sending 
you with this a copy of my circular to the 
governor of each State, together with a plan, 
or rather an outline of a plan thrown together 
to convey some of my views. Again, any de- 
gree of consideration for the nearest wishes of 
my heart that stand connected with services to 
the Indian nations eminently demands my 
ardent thanks. No compliments can be ac- 
cepted of you ; the wise providence of God hav- 
ing called you to, and so honored you in, a sit- 
uation far above your fellows, and, as one mark 
of his favor to his servant of old, given the na- 
tions to your sword and as the driven stubble 
to your bow. Allow me then to follow that 
comparison till that character shall as eminent- 
ly belong unto you, he was called the friend 
of God." Read in that letter the courteous 



158 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

grace and statesman's foresight, for it conveys 
both qualities. Wonderful woman, touching 
in influence and blessing the court of England 
on the one hand and the highest in rule in 
America on the other — the beneficence of one 
woman spanning two continents. 

Her missionary zeal flamed brighter as age 
stole upon her. Age brought no respite from 
work, but larger plans and holier charities ; 
not only the gift of money, but of self also 
as service. With the seer's vision she says : 
" Some very great work is intended by the 
Lord among the heathen. Should this appear 
I should rejoice to go myself to establish a col- 
lege among the Indian nations. I can't help 
thinking the Lord will have me there, if only 
to make coats and garments for the poor In- 
dians." Lady Huntingdon's personal life was 
as beautiful as her official life was beneficent. 
Contact with the world, the frictions of creed, 
perplexities of church-building, and intimacy 
with Christians and sinners did not take away 
that finer grace of holiness which is more in 
God's sight than our greatest labor. The equi- 
poise of her faith was undisturbed amid the 
heated discussions that temporarily separated 



LADY HUNTINGDON. I 59 

Wesley and Whitefield. Her charity never 
failed amid all the bitterness of the old Calvin- 
istic and Arminian contest that made foes of 
firmest friends. She was the healer, and recon- 
ciled Wesley and Whitefield, whose hearts 
were always one but whose intellects were di- 
vided. Her faith was pillared, not on man's 
testimony, but on the word of God and the in- 
ward witness. The testimony of consciousness 
was the deeper faith all had in common, and 
she put Augustine, Calvin, and Cranmer, all, 
back of Christ, and united men to him. She 
was mighty in counsel. Wesley submitted his 
journals to her before giving them to the pub- 
lic, and her wisdom saved Charles from joining 
the Moravians. The agents of Princeton Uni- 
versity submitted their plans to her for build- 
ing. Men highest in state in England and 
America delighted to have her judgment. Her 
drawing room was the salon of a new reforma- 
tion. Hither nobility turned, men and women 
of England's most ancient houses. Here roy- 
alty came openly and secretly to hear, like 
Nicodemus, the Gospel of Christ ; beautiful 
women, witty and bright, and brave men with 
scars and medals ; men of most opposite creeds 



l6o METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

— from Zinzendorf, the prince and Moravian, to 
Potter, the archbishop and Anglican ; men of 
highest culture as well as of highest piety, like 
Wesley, Benson, and Fletcher ; orators like 
Whitefield and Pitt ; courtiers like Chesterfield 
and Nash ; wits like Walpole and Bolingbroke ; 
historians like Hume; actors like Garrick; 
poets sacred like Charles Wesley, the sweet 
psalmist of the new theology ; and Cowper, 
sweet and sad ; and Toplady, whose poetry is 
as sweet as the honeycomb and prose as bit- 
ter as gall ; Pope, profane, and crooked in form 
and face; Doddridge, pure and full of rhythmic 
truth, and Watts, full of life and sweetness, 
strength and grace ; statesmen like Dartmouth 
and Worth ; nobility of Scotland, like the dukes 
of Argyle and Aberdeen ; and earls like Buchan 
and Maxwell; and the uncrowned nobility of 
America in Franklin, the philosopher, and 
Henry Laurens, the statesman. In her draw- 
ing room was found largely the moral light 
that was rising over Britain, and from it flowed 
out the influence that was protesting in Wil- 
berforce against slavery and in America against 
cruelty to Indians. In the center of that home, 
known over three kingdoms, and in highest 



LADY HUNTINGDON. l6l 

repute beyond the sea, stood Selina of Hunt- 
ingdon, one of the most remarkable women of 
any age and the finest flowering of English 
womanhood. Sharing in kinship the blood of 
Marie Stuart of Scotland, she had a still rarer 
beauty than the unfortunate queen's ; not the 
beauty of form and speech, but that higher 
beauty of holiness. Kindred in lineage with 
good Queen Bess, whose name England re- 
veres for her political might, and whom all 
Protestants revere for her defense of their 
faith, yet this woman's power, as far extended, 
was nobler than that of Elizabeth ; for hers was 
the ascendancy of the sword and rule of force ; 
but that of Lady Huntingdon was the sway 
of charity and the higher rule of Gospel truth. 
As brilliant as De Stael, alluring bright men 
and women by the charm of her conversation, 
yet she held her gifts as a sacred trust and her 
wealth as a hallowed stewardship for Christ. 
Christ was the center, and every person who 
crossed her threshold was made to feel the at- 
tractive grace of a life naturally winning, but 
made more attractive by the love and grace of 
God. Her spiritual ministry was in harmony 
with all her life ; her works praise her in the 



1 62 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

gates ; her name is as ointment poured forth. 
She was strong and benevolent, and she was 
holy. Early Methodism was character as well 
as achievement. Piety was the common jewel 
that adorned the brow of nobility and peas- 
antry. Holiness was not only a profession but 
a possession. The love of Christ was enthroned 
in that heart so completely that her whole life 
was a ministry of blessing. Consecrated fully 
to Christ, she received a fullness of joy that is 
rarely bestowed. Perfect love yielded perfect 
enjoyment. We see the soul surrendered and 
full of contentment. She wrote to Wesley 
concerning perfect love, " This doctrine I hope 
to live and die by ; it is absolutely the most 
complete thing I know." 

Lady Huntingdon was sanctified but not 
sanctimonious. It is a lofty tribute to the 
beauty of holiness in her character that so 
many, from the king to the noble, honored 
her, and the highest praise of her piety that in 
life she influenced so many of the nobility for 
Christ and that in dying so many coveted her 
prayers. Noblemen passed over their chaplains 
and begged this sainted woman's supplications, 
counting her simple faith of more value than 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 63 

priestly office and sacrament. Death came, 
and those of high estate met the king of ter- 
rors with as great joy as the humble peasant. 
Noble Methodists die well. 

In early womanhood her own daughter yield- 
ed the battle, crying in triumph, " Happy, hap- 
py, happy ! " Her sister-in-law, Lady Margaret 
Ingham, passed away saying, " Thanks be to 
God, the moment is come, the day is dawning! " 
She bowed at the bedside of the Earl of Buchan, 
and, converted, he exclaimed, in dying, " Had 
I strength of body I would not be ashamed 
before men and angels to tell what the Lord 
Jesus hath done for my soul." Lord and Lady 
Sutherland were converted through her minis- 
try, and death suddenly arrested them. Lord 
Oxford sent for her, and, through her faith, laid 
hold on God and was saved. She had power 
with God as well as with men, and witnessed 
many of England's highest families brought to 
a saving knowledge of Christ. Her name in the 
United Kingdom was the synonym of Christly 
power, and hundreds breathed it in gratitude. 
Her influence touched all classes as no English 
woman. Even bishops felt the power of her 

life, for Archbishop Potter, the highest prelate 
12 



164 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

in England, wrote to her the last letter of his 
life, and in it says, " Pray for me until we meet 
in that place where our joy shall be complete." 
How pure and beneficent that life must have 
been to have compelled the respect of that 
dissolute age, and how potent for Christ that 
sweet voice which allured so many men and 
women out of that sinful society and planted 
them in Christ. She lived in one of the dark- 
est periods of English history, when its Church 
was apostate in duty, its State corrupted, its 
court profaned, and its people debased. She 
lived under the reign of the four Georges, and, 
while her life and teachings were a constant 
rebuke to their evil conduct, they all respected 
and honored her, and recognized in her work 
and that of her associates the means by which 
England was saved and her political and re- 
ligious life revived, all accepting as true what 
George III said to Charles Wesley, Jr., " To 
your uncle, Mr. Wesley, and your father, and to 
George Whitefield and the Countess of Hunt- 
ingdon the Church in this realm is more in- 
debted than all others." 

We need not ask how she died. The end was 
in harmony with her whole career. She entered 



LADY HUNTINGDON. l6$ 

into life 1707 and entered into eternal rest 
1 791, lingering over fourscore years. 

She entered life four years after John Wes- 
ley was born and finished her ministry in his 
last year, the former closing that wondrous 
Odyssey in March, while the new life was dawn- 
ing and the spring flowers budding, and his 
friend in June, when the flowers were distilling 
their sweetest fragrance. Both continued their 
ministry of love until the end, and " ceased at 
once to work and live." Age advancing dealt 
kindly with them, and made of life's evening a 
golden sunset. Both were permitted to see 
the harvest of their toil and sacrifice, outliving 
the sneers and persecutions. They found in 
their work accomplished and the good-will of 
men a sweet compensation for all they had suf- 
fered. With faculties undimmed they wrought 
for Christ until the day of their departure. 

Like Wesley, whose last letter was to Wil- 
berforce, pleading release for the African slaves, 
so Lady Huntingdon's last thought, on the 
day before death, was of the heathen — Wes- 
ley for Africa, Lady Huntingdon for the isles 
of the sea. Her plan for the conversion of the 
Sandwich Islanders and Wesley's purpose for 



l66 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

Africa were the same. Wesley, in laying down 
his ministry, said, " God buries his workmen, 
but the work goes on ; " and Lady Hunting- 
don, in finishing her stewardship, said, " My 
work is done. I have nothing to do but to go 
to my Father." 

Countess Selina of Huntingdon, friend, mis- 
sionary, saint ! In what niche shall we place 
this noble woman of Britain ? In lineage she 
shared the blood of England's oldest nobility, 
her associates were the first in wealth and 
birth and culture of the United Kingdom and 
its fairest colony. In her lofty position she 
made all things bend to the one King, Christ. 
High birth, riches, and position were noblesse 
oblige. Position was used only to lift up the 
cause of Christ, riches administered that he 
might be honored, and culture consecrated 
that he might be exalted ; and for this reverent 
service her name will ever be held in memory. 

In English history no name of proudest 
Norman blood may be mentioned with her's. 
But one woman, Paula of Rome, may be com- 
pared to this finest flower of the Saxon family. 
She was descended from Rome's proudest pa- 
trician families, the Gracchi and Bruti. She, 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 67 

like Lady Huntingdon, was born to wealth and 
position, and early left a widow. Her home 
in Rome and its surroundings were the resort 
of Christ's ministers. Her friendship with 
Jerome recalls that of Lady Huntingdon with 
Whitefield and Wesley. 

The missionary service and beneficence of 
the Roman matron find a parallel in the itin- 
erancy and charity of the English mother ; but 
the latter, living in a higher field and girded 
by a more intelligent faith, wrought more no- 
bly, making two continents the recipients of 
her winning love and Christly endeavor. 

Britain has no name that sheds more luster 
upon the cause of Christ than this Methodist 
woman of noble birth, who, trampling on a 
coronet, took up the cross of the Nazarene. 
Marie Stuart, of kindred blood, wins by her 
beauty and the sad tragedy of her early death. 
Elizabeth wins the meed of commendation for 
her political services to her nation and for her 
defense of Protestantism ; but this woman 
holds us closer because of the scepter of spirit- 
ual power, winning men and women from sin. 

Among her peers she stands alone, and no 
woman at the court of the Georges may be 



1 68 METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

compared to her in brilliancy of intellect, up- 
rightness of conduct, and consecration of heart. 
She was contemporary with the Duchess of 
Marlborough, who was honored with her friend- 
ship and counsel. Both were natural leaders 
and had position and influence, but the duchess 
used her power over queens and generals for 
private aggrandizement. One was gentle and 
kind, the other arrogant and avaricious. One 
was the politician, the other the philanthropist. 
The duchess would swear like a soldier, the 
countess pray like an angel. The former, in 
social triumph, ruled the court and Queen 
Anne, and age found her dethroned, her am- 
bitions ruined, and herself in social exile ; to 
the latter increasing years brought added hon- 
ors, and from the highest. The society leader 
died the wealthiest woman in England, with- 
out a regret from friends or family ; the relig- 
ious leader died the most benevolent, while 
pulpits were draped and the sacred offices of 
the Church were used to hallow her name. 
The former trembled at the thought of a wasted 
life, while the other rejoiced at the reward that 
is promised to God's faithful disciples. 

Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, will ever 



LADY HUNTINGDON. 1 69 

be remembered as one of the new nobility 
that honored high position by doing reverent 
and loving service for God and humanity. 
Methodism honors her for her devotion to its 
most hallowed teachings, revealing in her life 
the beauty of holiness and in her work the ex- 
ample of Christ, who said, " Whosoever will be 
great among you shall be your minister, and 
whosoever of you. will be the chiefest shall be 
the servant of all." 

Her own sublime and beautiful hymn de- 
clares the deepest meaning of life : 

11 When thou, my righteous Judge, shalt come 
To take thy ransomed people home, 

Shall I among them stand ? 
Shall such a worthless worm as I, 
Who sometimes am afraid to die, 

Be found at thy right hand ? 

" I love to meet thy people now, 
Before thy feet with them to bow, 

Though vilest of them all ; 
But, can I bear the piercing thought, 
What if my name should be left out, 

When thou for them shalt call ? 

" O Lord, prevent it by thy grace ; 
Be thou my only hiding-place, 

In this the accepted day ; 
Thy pardoning voice O let me hear 
To still my unbelieving fear, 

Nor let me fall, I pray. 



I/O METHODISM AT THE COURT OF ST. JAMES. 

"Among thy saints let me be found, 
Whene'er the archangel's trump shall sound, 

To see thy smiling face ; 
Then loudest of the throng I'll sing, 
While heaven's resounding mansions ring 

With shouts of sovereign grace." 



The pi$ r^ethodi^ Deaeone^. 



" Blessed is the soul which hears within the Lord speaking, 
and receives from his mouth the word of consolation. 

" Blessed are they who dive into things eternal, and strive 
day by day through spiritual exercises to gain a deeper capacity 
for receiving heavenly secrets." — Of the Imitation of Christ. 

' ' The soul once brought into inner and immediate contact 
with a divine power is never left to itself." — Diman. 

" Never perhaps, since the rise of Christianity, has the mind 
which was in Christ Jesus been more faithfully copied than it 
was in the Vicar of Madeley. To say that he was a good 
Christian is saying too little. He was more than Christian — 
he was Christlike. It is said that Voltaire, "when challenged 
to produce a character as perfect as that of Jesus Christ, at 
once mentioned Fletcher of Madeley." — Overton. 

" If liberty is to be saved it will not be by the doubters, the 
men of science, or the materialists ; it will be by religious con- 
victions, by the faith of individuals who believe that God wills 
man to be free but also pure; it will be by the seekers after 
holiness, by those old-fashioned pious persons who speak of 
immortality and eternal life and prefer the soul to the whole 
world ; it will be by the enfranchised children of the ancient 
faith of the human race." — Amiel's Journal. 



MARY FLETCHER. 

IT is one of England's beautiful homes, sur- 
rounded with far-reaching fields and for- 
ests, bright with flowers of rare beauty and 
fragrance, threaded with walks amid jessa- 
mine and roses and drives upon which move 
fleet-footed coursers or tread the feet of men. 
All its environments are those of gentility, 
wealth, and refinement. The hour is memor- 
able. The family carriage stands at the door- 
way. The whole retinue of servants stands in 
the hall bathed in tears as there trips out with 
firm but reluctant feet a beautiful young 
woman twenty-one years of age, with her 
maid following after. The door of the car- 
riage shuts, horses speed away, and Mary 
Bosanquet is expelled from her father's house 
because she is a Methodist. The die has been 
cast, the crisis has ended, and the awful strug- 
gle in that young heart between parental 
authority and divine rule has been decided, 
and Mary Bosanquet willingly forsakes father 
and mother for the sake of Christ. 



174 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

" She puts from her person the trappings of pride, 
And passes from home with the joy of a bride ; 
Nor wept at the threshold as onward she moved, 
For her heart was on fire in the cause she approved." 

Her humble and unpretending abode was 
soon reached. We can imagine the emotions 
of that hour. In a moment transferred from a 
home of plenty to two unfurnished rooms 
without carpet, candle, chair, or table, she 
closed the door and bolted it, saying, " I am but 
young, only entered into my twenty-second 
year. I am cast out of my father's house. I 
know the heart of a stranger." Her maid ar- 
ranged her house and prepared the scant meal 
of bread, rank butter, and water ; but she ate 
(as she writes) her meal with gladness and sin- 
gleness of heart. A bed on the floor and the 
quiet stars in sentinel beauty watching through 
the windows, and the child of wealth began 
her new life in deprivation but rich in tender- 
est love for God. Natural affections rose and 
tears flowed as the darker shadows of evening 
stole in and the hour of retirement arrived ; 
for love to Christ does not destroy but in- 
creases human affection, and in no Christian 
is this more beautifully shown than in the life 



MARY FLETCHER. 1 75 

of this young woman. Indeed, it was this 
strong fraternal love which caused her expul- 
sion. She had found Christ through a hum- 
ble servant, and she, like Andrew, would lead 
her brothers to Jesus. She felt that the claims 
of her own kindred were first upon her, and she 
besought them to be converted ; and for this 
cause parental displeasure was incurred, and 
she was expelled from her home. 

Miss Bosanquet's conversion was genuine. 
There was no truce to Satan, and at once the 
fruit began to appear. I need not say that 
her parents were scandalized at the thought of 
their daughter becoming a Methodist. They 
at once dismissed the maid who was the lowly 
evangel, burnt all the Methodist books she 
had read, and took the young miss to London, 
that amid the whirl of fashion and society they 
might destroy the impressions of the Spirit ; 
but the faith of the young convert was not the 
passing emotion of the hour; not merely an 
intellectual assent to the new faith ; not only a 
quickening of the religious consciousness, but 
a regeneration of desire, thought, and pur- 
pose ; a new life thrilling and rejoicing the 
heart which nothing of earthly pleasure could 



176 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

satisfy. The London society she preferred 
was that of the obscure Christians called 
Methodists. Her parents compelled her pres- 
ence at the ball and card table, but her 
heart was not there. She, in filial honor 
bound, acceded to all of her parents' demands 
while in her minority, and as far as her con- 
science would allow ; but when she arrived at 
legal age she followed her own rule of life. 
Her father forbade her to make converts of 
her younger brothers, and said to her, " My 
daughter, there is a particular promise which I 
require of you — that is, that you will never on 
any occasion, either now or hereafter, attempt 
to make Christians of your brothers." She 
replied, looking to the Lord, u I think, sir, I 
dare not consent to that." " Then you force 
me to put you out of my house." "Yes, sir," 
she replied ; " according to your view of things 
I acknowledge it, and if I may but have your 
approval no situation will be disagreeable." 
Her answers breathe the same spirit that ani- 
mated the Hebrew youths who preferred God 
in the furnace to the gift of life and disloyalty 
to him. A touch of paternal love flows from 
her father's heart, and the pang of the suffer- 



MARY FLETCHER. 1 77 

ing child was somewhat softened by his words : 
" We shall be glad to see you next Tuesday at 
dinner." Her mother was severe to obduracy. 
She gave the final order, saying, day after day, 
" You must go to your lodgings to-night." It 
is difficult to understand this mother's unnat- 
ural attitude, for of all kindred she is most 
loyal to love's demands ; but her mother was a 
worldly society woman, and the profession of a 
new faith by her daughter was most odious. Of 
all heartless creatures the most unnatural is the 
worldly society woman. Nothing destroys the 
finer endowments that crown her nature sooner 
than worldly society. The social ambitions of 
this mother were dashed to pieces by the con- 
version of her child, and, heartless, her presence 
became intolerable, and she hastened to carry 
out a decision that makes the mother as much 
the object of contempt as the daughter one of 
commendation. Miss Bosanquet was naturally 
religious. There was an hereditary vein of 
piety running through her blood that may 
account for her early devotion to God ; for not 
only are vicious tendencies transmitted, but 
virtuous also. Her grandfather, a godly man, 
esteemed it a reproach for a man to die rich, 



1/8 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

saying, " It is too plain a mark he has not made 
a good use of his money." 

May we not see ancestral virtues blossoming 
out in her character? From a child she was 
serious, and preferred the joys of religion to 
the pleasures of the world. The early develop- 
ment of her piety was remarkable. When four 
years of age she was convinced that God an- 
swered her prayer ; at five she became con- 
cerned for her salvation. This frail child, like 
Samuel, inquired early the way of the Lord. 
When eight years of age she was converted, 
exclaiming in her youthful joy, " I do, I do 
rely on Christ ! " At ten, under the influence 
of temptation, she thought, like Wesley, that 
she had sinned against the Holy Ghost. Her 
life was austere even in childhood. Her fa- 
vorite resort for prayer was a grove in her 
father's garden, where the young heart would 
pour out its thoughts unto God. She early 
drew to the Methodists. When but a child, 
with her parents at Bath, the Newport of Eng- 
land, she said if she knew where to find the 
Methodists she would tear off all her fine things 
and run through fire to them. At thirteen she 
was confirmed in St. Paul's, and at sixteen gave 



MARY FLETCHER. Ijg 

up dancing. When at home she was never 
allowed to go out except in a carriage, but in 
London this delicate girl walked miles that she 
might worship with the people whom she 
loved. In the child we see the woman. The 
radiant joy of Christ, the stern renunciation of 
the world, the calm judgment discriminating 
between pure and sinful pleasures, evince not 
only a strong but deeply pious nature. Her 
life was like that of many who have served God 
efficiently. It was the morning sacrifice ; for 
noble and reverent service unto God we must 
have the early consecration. Those whom 
God would gird for his highest ministry must 
not go out into the world to corrupt and be 
corrupted, but must, like Joseph, lead a stain- 
less life. The flower of a pure youth bears 
richest fruitage in mature years, and this child 
of wealth and refinement, quickened early by 
the Spirit of God, was permitted to do much 
for the Master whom she served. Miss Bosan- 
quet felt keenly her changed position. The 
iron entered into her soul ; but she found her 
sphere of duty, and when that is found and 
duty done there is supreme happiness. She 

visited her old home, saying, " Yet I was not 
13 



180 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

without my cross, for every time I went to see 
my dear parents what I felt, when toward night 
I rose to go away, cannot be imagined." 
Friends upbraided, saying, " You will soon find 
the difference between your father's house and 
such poking holes as you will live in. There 
you will not have one inch but the common 
street, whereas you have been used to large 
and fine gardens ; and how tired you will be of 
such trash as you provide instead of the boun- 
tiful provision of your father's table ! " 

Miss Bosanquet was heroic ; in her soul 
flamed the old fire that has ever consumed the 
desire for worldly pleasure. It required a 
strong and resolute faith in God for a young 
woman at her age to leave her beautiful home 
and the highest social advantages and live in 
obscurity and contempt. And yet out of just 
such lives come the royal souls that elevate 
the race. Only by such discipline are we 
often prepared for the higher knowledge that 
yields blessings unto others ; yea, our capacity 
to receive such discipline is God's evidence of 
our fitness for his service. She came from 
the social heights, and her position was only 
used to lift up the fallen ; she came with 



MARY FLETCHER. l8l 

wealth only to enrich others, and with a 
home to shelter the homeless. Providence 
soon opened the door and she entered in. 
She had an advantage ; while she was com- 
pelled to leave home and disinherited, she 
had money in her own right, and this, with 
what the Lord would send, would enable her 
to do some good. The hour of her expul- 
sion from home was an exciting one in Eng- 
land, and the rejected faith that she espoused 
was the theme on almost every lip. Already 
the glad sound of the Gospel was ringing 
through the land, and at its call many women 
of honorable estate had responded and were 
doing the very work that Miss Bosanquet had 
planned. In London Lady Huntingdon was 
planning chapels, schools, and orphanages ; in 
Edinburgh Lady Glenorchy and Lady Maxwell 
were leading society to see in the poor and 
homeless God's own neglected children and 
their kindred. Money was poured out, chapels 
were built, schools for the destitute and homes 
for the orphan planted, and society was being 
blessed. She had not long been among the 
Methodists without making her faith produce 
works. She did not spend her time in talking 



1 82 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

of Jesus, but in working for him. Early 
Methodism, deeply spiritual, was intensely 
humanitarian. Souls had value, and so had 
bodies. The Gospel was not hearing the truth, 
but doing it. She joined the new nobility that 
had on it the stamp of holiness and service. 
She did not have that far-away faith that sees 
the stranger saved but has no salvation for the 
heathen around the door. Nor did she, in 
her strife for heaven, forget this world, nor in 
the claims of the spirit count of no use those 
of the body. She determined to return 
to Laytonstone, her home. She began where 
Christ did, in service to the body. She turned 
one of her houses into an orphanage and a 
school for destitute children ; and from that 
humble beginning flowed out a stream of bless- 
ing that quickens the faith of every child of 
God who would win a crown of rejoicing. 
How marvelous the career of this young 
woman ! We see her as a Priscilla bearing 
messages for the servants of God ; as a Phoebe 
ministering like the deaconesses of the early 
Church in word and charity unto the people ; 
and as a Dorcas making garments for the desti- 
tute and cheering by kind words those in dis- 



MARY FLETCHER. 1 83 

tress. In this young life fully consecrated are 
all the qualities that make the office and min- 
istry of the diaconate of the primitive Church. 
Her method was ideal. She did not flee society 
and immure herself in convent walls, only to 
come out in protest of garb and ministry against 
it. She entered no order like those of the 
Church of Rome, in which the highest ties of 
nature are cruelly sundered ; she founded no 
order like the Grey Sisters of Berlin, or the 
deaconesses of Kaiserswerth. She simply took 
one of her houses, opened her doors to the 
neglected and orphans, and made its work its 
consecration. There was nothing of the ascetic 
in her, fleeing the corruptions of a society fast 
drifting into a state of moral confusion ; noth- 
ing of the recluse shorn of sympathy and love, 
which can only be fostered by fellowship with 
men and women. Her piety was healthy ; it 
had the robust glow of humanity in it, and 
shuddered at the thought of convent cell and 
celibate spirit. She would remain in the world 
but not of it, and so we find her at home in 
society revealing in all places the Master's 
spirit and doing his work. 

Miss Bosanquet went out single and alone 



1 84 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

to inaugurate a work that to-day finds a 
recognition in our own revered Church. 
She was its pioneer gentlewoman who 
opened the way that to-day so many Chris- 
tian women are treading. It was before 
the day of deaconesses in our Church when 
she did the work of such a sisterhood ; it was 
before the day of training schools for nurses 
arid of medical colleges for women, where edu- 
cated women can accomplish so much good, 
that she, with a physician's skill and nursing 
care, bent over the pallet of the lonely and 
sick and administered healing. What to her 
was a holy vocation is now a profession in 
which women of best family are proud 
to be enrolled. She anticipated that increas- 
ing class of women of gentle birth, wealth, 
and culture who to-day, touched by the 
power of our holy religion, turn aside from 
the frivolous pleasures of society to minister 
to beds of suffering and pain. She opened 
the path since trod by Florence Nightingale 
and Dora Pattison, and gave an impulse to that 
movement of humanity which has changed 
womanly ideals, causing young women to find 
highest honor and respect as, filled with the 



MARY FLETCHER. 1 85 

spirit of Christ, they step from high social po- 
sitions to give themselves to the office of 
nursing the sick and helping the helpless. 
With rare judgment in her piety she made 
of her home a shelter for the homeless, until 
many were saved and trained through her gen- 
erosity. We see this young woman as a mother 
standing in the midst of her increasing family, 
ruling with benignity and grace the house she 
consecrated to God. The first orphanage of 
Methodism is worthy of an inspection. Its 
beginnings were humble and its founder inex- 
perienced. It was but a grain of mustard-seed, 
but it will grow. It was in her own house and 
she was its benefactor. She did not mean to 
support it all herself, nor could she do so ; at 
last she put this inscription on an alms box 
in the hall, " For the maintenance of a few 
orphans, that they may be brought up in the 
fear of the Lord." It began with a little four- 
year-old child taken from the side of its moth- 
er's coffin. The children were all dressed in 
uniform ; the regulation garb was purple cot- 
ton, which all wore, from the founder down to 
the lowest attendant. It was a real Methodist 
orphanage, and in its severity recalls Epworth 



1 86 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

Rectory and Susannah Wesley's discipline. 
They practiced early rising, the older children 
rising at four and five o'clock, the younger 
later. At half past six worship was held, and 
at seven breakfast was served. All inmates sat 
round a large table thirty feet long in the hall, 
and the morning meal consisted of herb tea 
and milk porridge. Until eight, exercises in 
the garden ; then school opened, continuing 
until twelve ; then a short season of worship, 
dismission, and a walk. One, dinner was 
served, bill of fare not given. Two, bell rang 
for school, the session continuing until five ; 
then recreation until prayer. The training 
was technical as well as literary and spiritual. 
The older girls were detailed each week in turn 
to be taught cooking and housekeeping. The 
composition of the orphanage varied ; some 
were healthy and others diseased, but all were 
accepted. None were received under two 
years of age except a little waif a month old, 
which was laid one night at. their door, but 
only tarried a few days, when it was borne to 
the ranks of the angels, to gain there the love 
and care which its inhuman parents denied it 
here. The orphanage was decidedly religious. 



MARY FLETCHER. 1 87 

We can trace the same austerity of faith run- 
ning all through the economy that we see in 
Kingswood, founded by Wesley, and Cokes- 
bury College, founded by Coke and Asbury. 
We naturally revolt against compelling young 
children of tender age to rise so early ; it is like 
punching young cattle up to make them thrive. 
The severe regimen of our early schools has 
long since been relaxed, and to-day in many 
of them there is Methodism only in name. 

The orphanage had its difficulties, and the 
work was crippled when she changed her posi- 
tion and enlarged her borders. She bought a 
large farm in Berkshire and called it Cross 
Hall — peculiar name, but richly significant of 
her work carried on in this new field. Lay- 
tonstone had its troubles, but Cross Hall far 
exceeded. The number of orphans increased 
until forty persons made up her family, and we 
do not wonder if her income was inadequate 
and difficulties multiplied. 

Her work is the old story of faith and 
struggle, of discouragement and triumph. 
Again was it verified that no great work can 
be done without labor, and that God's work 
never fails. Her ministry widened beyond her 



1 88 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

resources, and men like the nobility of Tekoa 
sneered at her folly and continually predicted 
disaster. She had her opposers, but what 
good work has not been opposed ? Rarely 
are men ready for every good work. If they 
love one cause they spoil the feast of charity 
by their hate of another. The most noble 
monuments of Philadelphia Methodism, the 
Home for the Aged, the orphanage, in which 
the hearts of so many are so deeply interested, 
and the hospital, so long needed and now so 
near completion, all have been opposed. When 
difficulties increased because of her straitened 
quarters, and applicants multiplied, proph- 
ets of evil came around ; and listen to their 
counsel; it has a quite familiar ring to some 
ears : " You will find in the end it is all delu- 
sion. In two or three years you will turn out 
all these women and children to the wild 
world, and you in your old age will be without 
the necessaries of life." 

Capital was used up, and deeper into debt 
the orphanage was plunged, when some, al- 
ways weak in faith, and weaker in judgment, 
said, " Let us borrow ;" but alas ! there was no 
credit, and hence no money. Then she took 



MARY FLETCHER. 1 89 

her work to God in prayer, and, opening a 
book, she read these words : " Christ charges 
himself with all your temporal affairs while 
you charge yourself with those that relate to 
his glory." She continued in prayer, and be- 
fore she ceased was called down to meet a 
stranger who had called, and he put in her 
hand the exact amount of money needed. 

We may not follow Miss Bosanquet in her 
orphanage work alone. We know not the gar- 
ments made and food provided out of her own 
purse, or what she received from her friends. 
We only know that she never ceased doing 
good until her hands were palsied and the wheels 
of life stood still. Her benevolent work is an 
illustration of God's method in dealing with 
his children. None may forecast the result of 
work for God, for none can tell unto what his 
work will grow. There is an expansive power 
in every Christian endeavor. It begins as a 
mustard-seed of charity and widens until it 
becomes a great blessing. The Christian never 
knows what increase is behind until he begins 
to use the power, and then, as when the disci- 
ples distributed the bread and fish, the great 
blessing flows out. 



190 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

The home was not only an orphanage, but 
she kept a kind of " inn for the Lord's people." 
She was given to hospitality. Her loving 
compassion was not only extended to the or- 
phans whom she reared, but she made her 
home a social center for Christian people. To 
it came helpless orphans to find in her care a 
mother's loving arms ; to it came the poor to be 
fed and to hear the word of God. The clergy 
shared her hospitable board and gladly took 
counsel with her concerning the welfare of the 
Church. Here the weary itinerant came and 
always found a welcome ; and hither came de- 
vout women to plan and work for the exten- 
sion of God's kingdom. Mr. Wesley visited 
her and calls Laytonstone " One truly Chris- 
tian family." And again, " O what a house of 
God is here ! Not only for decency and order, 
but for the life and power of religion. I am 
afraid there are very few such to be found at 
all in the king's dominions." He calls Cross 
Hall, her later home, " a pattern and general 
blessing to the country." Over fifty years her 
home was open, and rich and poor enjoyed 
her kindly cheer. All over the country went 
the fame of her hospitality like the fragrance 



MARY FLETCHER. 191 

of Bethany, made sweet and precious by the 
presence of Christ. 

Miss Bosanquet was not only a woman of 
one talent, but of many. She had a heart and 
hand of charity, but she had personal charms 
that win. She was attractive, possessing the 
highest graces of womanhood ; not the beauty 
of form and face alone, but of manners and 
character. She had a tongue of silvery sweet- 
ness that captured men and women as it artic- 
ulated Christ. The rare gift of speech sea- 
soned with grace was her possession, and she 
used it willingly for his service. She began as 
a young woman to be a mother to the mother- 
less, and while human love widened and deep- 
ened as she enlarged her work there was still 
a latent gift of divine blessing that was bud- 
ding into promise of good for the Church. 
Wesley made her a class leader, and well he 
might, for the gifts and calling were evident. 
She formed the first Methodist Society at Lay- 
tonstone. Her home was the church in which 
a faithful band of twenty-five men and women 
worshiped. She had the inward call which 
Methodism emphasizes, the graces that won the 
ear of the people and abundant fruit in the souls 



I92 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

converted by her teaching, and Mr. Wesley 
permitted her to preach. How natural her 
position ! She shrank from the high calling, 
and was content to lead and instruct the little 
flock in the privacy of a class room, but could 
not go out amid the wild crowd that gathered to 
hear the word of God ; but the Spirit's call was 
sounding in her soul, and she felt the vows of 
God pressing upon her. With true wom- 
anly modesty she would not make her judg- 
ment ultimate, neither would she hush the ac- 
cents of the Spirit within ; so in her perplexity 
she appealed to Mr. Wesley, saying she " would 
abide by his decision, if the Lord should so 
direct by his decision." Hear him. He re- 
plied that he considered it an extraordinary 
call ; that he looked upon the whole work of 
Methodism as an extraordinary dispensation. 
" Therefore I do not wonder if several things 
occur therein which do not fall under ordi- 
nary rules of discipline. Paul's ordinary rule 
was not to permit a woman to speak in the 
congregation, yet, in extraordinary cases, he 
made a few exceptions.' ' Wesley conceded 
more to Miss Bosanquet than to other women 
who also professed to have received the divine 



MARY FLETCHER. 1 93 

call. He advised Grace Walton and Sarah 
Crosby, gifted women, ' ; to pray in private and 
in public as much as you can. Even in public 
you may properly enough intermix short ex- 
hortations with prayer. But keep as far from 
what we call preaching as you can. Therefore, 
never take a text ; never speak in a continued 
discourse without some break above four or 
five minutes; tell the people we shall have an- 
other prayer meeting at such a time and place." 
Wesley made an exception of Miss Bosanquet's 
position. He said, " The Methodists do not 
allow of women's preaching; " but to her, " I 
do not see that you have broken any law." 
Evidently Wesley shared the same perplexity 
that confuses his children at this hour. He 
forbade women taking a text, yet allowed Miss 
Bosanquet to deliver a regular sermon. He 
suggested " Do not speak continuously over 
four or five minutes ; " and yet this woman took 
a text, divided it into four or five parts, preached 
an hour and three quarters, while crowds stood 
like "wax works" in rapt attention on her 
ministry. Wesley considered the individual 
and not the class. Methodism does the same. 
It contradicts its highest seal of authority when 



194 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

it refuses to hear the voice within ; for above 
all others is the supremacy of the Holy Spirit, 
and the power and fruit must determine the 
ordination, whether it be of God or of man. 
If the power of God is manifest, who shall deny 
the higher ordination ? In the Hebrew Church 
woman was prophetess. Miriam and Deborah 
and Huldah all spake as moved by the Holy 
Ghost, and the truth uttered by woman's voice 
lacked not authority. Anna, the aged proph- 
etess, was recognized when Christ was born. 
Four daughters of Philip were taught of the 
Spirit, and the apostolic Church accepted their 
gifts. The Old Testament honored woman the 
prophetess, but did not make her a priest ; the 
stern and bloody functions of that office were 
yielded to her brother. Christ did not call a 
woman to be an apostle, but did not by that 
act mean to annul her office as a prophetess or 
silence her voice that had sounded so sweetly 
in the earlier Church. May not the truth of 
God be found in the distinction between 
prophet and priest and in the precedent es- 
tablished by Christ and carried out in the early 
Church? To take away from woman a privi- 
lege she held in the Hebrew Church is to re- 



MARY FLETCHER. 195 

duce the Christian Church, for her, at least, to 
a society lower than the first communion of 
Israel. Moses is not rebuked by Christ and 
Miriam still can speak ; nor is Christ opposed 
to Paul, for the daughters of Philip did preach, 
and Wesley, in the recognition of the marvel- 
ous gifts of this woman, has simply restored a 
lost function of the primitive Church. 

Miss Bosanquet's life was exceptional, yea, 
providential. She, too, had the dower of a 
Deborah and Anna, and in it and in the fruits 
that followed was her authority. Neither pro- 
phetical nor apostolic succession rests upon 
outward traditions or impositions. They are 
the true successors of the apostles who show 
apostolic character and work ; they are true 
prophets of God whose message brings salva- 
tion. The realities of the Spirit are primary, 
and imposition of hands counts nothing with- 
out the endowment of power. The higher or- 
dination of the Spirit makes valid the work of 
man, and his credentials without that are but 
so much waste paper. This noble woman 
heard the voice of God ; while she was musing 
the fire burned, and she spake with her tongue 

the wonderful words of life. Her treatment 
14 



196 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

was not that of the wife of a Presbyterian elder, 
herself the daughter of a Methodist minister. 
The prayer meeting was becoming a Friends' 
service, without many of the inner voices, when, 
to revive the interest, he suggested that the 
sisters write out their testimony at home and 
have one of the venerable deacons read it — an 
attempt, said the venerable daughter of the 
itinerant, to get up a Methodist meeting. 
Wesley cut the Gordian knot, loosened the 
tongue of women, and gave to the Church of 
Christ the sweetest voices to send out the glad 
tidings, and " great is the multitude of women 
that publish them." Study this gifted woman 
as she commands and holds the ear of the pub- 
lic and by her winning words wins thousands 
to the truth. Her soul is aflame with the joy- 
ous message, and she delights to tell the old, 
old story. All opportunities are utilized if she 
may but save some. In the home, in the 
parlor among the highest, in the kitchen among 
the lowly, in the barn and chapel with those 
who will not come to the parish church, ring- 
ing the dinner bell on the highway to arrest 
some thoughtless soul, forgetting, yea, sink- 
ing herself in Christ, and so consumed by a 



MARY FLETCHER. 1 97 

passion for souls that she gladly uses all means, 
to lead people to Jesus. See this child of 
wealth, raised in luxury, speeding on horseback 
over the Berkshire hills, facing the bleak, pen- 
etrating east wind, through rain and mud, to 
preach Christ ! Now she preaches in the barn, 
and multitudes of lapsed Britons throng it to 
hear her loving words ; now, a magnificent 
horsewoman, she rides twenty miles to preach, 
and two thousand people have assembled to 
hear her as she stands on the top of the stone 
quarry and in nature's chapel proclaims the 
truth. At Huddersfield she stands on the 
horse-block, and from that humble pulpit tells 
to hundreds the sweet, sad tragedy of Calvary. 
No place too small, no people too humble, no 
place too great, no hearers too high. Where- 
soever and to whomsoever this self-denying 
evangel is called, there she speeds with her 
angel ministry. With loving hands extended 
the orphan is rescued and the poor relieved ; 
with eager footsteps she wends her way on 
errands like a good Samaritan, while her 
voice has become familiar over hill and lea, 
in village and in barn, its accents the echo 
of the angels' strain, that brings, wherever 



198 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

heeded, " peace on earth and good-will toward 
men." 

Miss Bosanquet was an enthusiast in Chris- 
tian work. Like all that band of English 
women who mingled in the great revival she 
was consumed in its work ; her comfort was in 
yielding comfort unto others, and her joy in 
making others happy. Her work was broad, 
her character was womanly. The broad field 
which she entered did not rob her of that in- 
definable charm that sometimes is lacking in 
public women. " Her words," said Wesley, 
" are of fire, conveying both light and heat to 
the hearts of all who hear them." Her voice 
was smooth, easy, and natural, even when 
deepest thought was expressed. Her modesty 
was proverbial ; she would call her service only 
a meeting ; she would not enter a pulpit in 
church or chapel. In the chapels she built 
out of her own means she had a small plat- 
form built, a foot above the floor, on which she 
stood ; but she never entered a pulpit. Ad- 
vancing as far as she must, every step toward 
the sacred office was taken with reluctance. 
It required no small courage for this young 
woman to face a public congregation in those 



MARY FLETCHER. 1 99 

days of strife and corruption. The sneer was 
on many lips, and the insult fell from many 
tongues ; and she would gladly have kept si- 
lence, but she dare not. Men heard and were 
converted ; others listened only to revile, turn- 
ing away crying out, " Sure she was an impu- 
dent woman, for no modest woman could pro- 
ceed thus." Her course was lawless, judged 
by the canons of the Church, but her position 
in the Gospel was natural, for in Christ Jesus 
there is "neither male nor female," and the 
gifts are without limitation, as the Spirit blow- 
eth where it listeth. To make one erring 
church at Corinth a precedent for all ages, and 
to degrade all women to the level of a body 
of illiterate Greek women, is not Pauline or 
Christian. Her gifts were extraordinary, and 
may not be judged by ordinary rules. When 
women of such rare endowments appear, and 
such blessed fruits are manifest, the result is a 
sufficient refutation of all the charges made 
against her. 

Miss Bosanquet's position is that of our re- 
vered Church to-day — a Church that alone of 
the Protestant sisterhood yields to woman her 
place as recognized in the Scriptures, a Church 



200 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

that rings out by all voices the message of 
God, and not the least potent is the low, sweet 
voice of woman. What the future position 
of woman may be in the Church may not be 
known, nor will I venture a prophecy ; but 
whatever new office she may fill, or new minis- 
tries she may assume, it will not be to the det- 
riment but for the good of the Church of God, 
for if at her command the first miracle was 
wrought beneath the bridal blossoms of Cana, 
the water sparkling purple into wine, her word, 
blended with the work of Him to-day can 
still work a joyful transmutation. 

Miss Bosanquet's position evoked criticism 
and provoked opposition. The press defamed 
her ; the pulpit held her up as a Merry An- 
drew before the saints ; on all sides odium was 
cast upon her name, while her good works 
were evil spoken q{. With womanly instinct 
she shrank from the cruel slanders that clergy 
and evil men circulated. She did not take the 
penalty as Lady Huntingdon ; she felt keenly 
being made an object of laughter ; she was 
womanly and could not bear ridicule. Nor 
was it the result of weakness ; she was strong, 
she could suffer. Bold as a lion, she was as gen- 



MARY FLETCHER. 201 

tie as a lamb ; uncompromising in her convic- 
tions, she was abundant in charity ; her cour- 
age never failed her, and when in the path of 
duty no evil made her afraid; she would do 
and she would dare. One night, when she had 
been preaching in her own house to a large 
company, the gate bell rang violently, and at 
once appeared in the kitchen four men with 
clubs. Immediately word was whispered to 
her that these were the ringleaders of a mob 
come to do them harm. But at once she cried 
out, " O, we do not fear mobs when we are 
about our Master's business ; greater is he that 
is for us than all who can be against us." 
When she ended her service she calmly walked 
up to them and offered each of them a copy of 
the General Rules of the Society, and they at 
once went quietly away. That was genuine he- 
roism, and recalls Napoleon, who advanced with 
open breast to a regiment and said to the sol- 
diers, " Is there one who will kill his command- 
er? " and they surrendered. The heroic soul 
does not covet peace but the battle ; the 
noblest faith does not waste its strength in 
singing about Christ but doing for him. To 
the highest souls life is a splendid battlefield, 



202 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

and souls as treasure-trove to be conquered 
for Christ. Such spurn ease and calm sailing 
over the sea of life. To them the Norse 
poet's words are ever true : 

" The helmsman prays not for warm sun and calm sea ; 
Rather does he rejoice when the wind begins to whistle in the 
ri gging." 

The wind indeed whistled around early 
Methodism. The strange noises within and 
the mobs without Epworth Rectory followed 
when the family religion became a flame of a 
great revival. Persecution and violence were 
visited upon all who would lead a holy life. 
Principles were soon tested and strength quick- 
ly developed. No station was too lofty for ex- 
emption ; the convert at the steps of the throne 
as well as the converted collier were made 
equally to feel the arrow of the persecutor. 
The beautiful Hester Ann Rogers, daughter 
of an English clergyman, was confined by her 
parents eight weeks in a private room because 
she attended Methodist worship ; but it only 
drove her closer to Christ and made her a more 
ardent convert. Lord and Lady Dartmouth 
had the church closed against them, when 
Whitefield took to the churchyard and made 



MARY FLETCHER. 203 

of a tombstone a pulpit to preach the Gospel 
of the resurrection. The preachers were the 
especial objects of their attack. Newspapers 
published them as strolling mendicants, men 
with a windmill in their heads. Actors on the 
stage made them the subject of their plays ; 
poets scribbled against them and clergymen 
preached against them. Churchmen, Dis* 
senter, and rabble all combined against the 
apostles of the new faith. The clergy, finding 
their vocation in peril, did the most harm. 
They would lead the mob as with heathen 
brutality they assaulted the poor defenseless 
Methodists. One vicar always kept a drum to 
beat when the itinerant entered the village. 
Another made a proclamation to the mob, bid- 
ding " all who would fight for the Church of 
England to repair to the drumhead, where 
each man would receive a pint of ale and all 
other encouragements." In no nation was the 
offense of the Cross more grievous than among 
these apostatized Britons. The clergy could 
play at bowls and follow hunting, and no re- 
proof was given ; but let them preach conver- 
sion as well as confirmation, and the testimony 
of conscience as well as the witness of the 



204 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

Church, and they were at once ejected and 
cast out of their parishes. 

There was law but no protection for the 
evangelical rector or curate. Think of the 
grand jury of the city of Cork making this 
presentment, " We find as present Charles 
Wesley to be a person of ill-fame, a vagabond, 
and a common disturber of his majesty's peace, 
and pray that he be transported." We read 
his matchless sacred poems, and again we learn 
that what he gained in suffering he expressed 
in song. Ingham, the scholarly Oxonian and 
husband of Lady Margaret Hastings, was 
pelted with mud ; Whitefield was cut in the 
head by a large stone while preaching Christ, 
and bishop and clergy standing by never so 
much as entered protest. They were visited 
with stripes and imprisonment. John Mitchell, 
an itinerant, was ducked seven times in the 
pond ; then his body was painted and carried 
to the ale house, and then carried again to 
the pond, where four men seized him and tossed 
him into twelve feet of water, and, when sink- 
ing unconscious, unwilling to drown him, they 
dragged him out. We cannot understand the 
malice of men that wou,ld lead to such con- 



MARY FLETCHER. 205 

duct ; as one has truly said, " What think you 
of a state of society when Wesley met in re- 
turn for his noble and Christlike efforts slander 
and scurrility from the press, the ribaldry of 
the ballad singer, the sneer of the witling, and 
the curt tauntings of the play actor ? When he 
stands up to preach the air is thick with stones 
and tremulous with the furious shoutings of 
bloodthirsty crowds ; and when he retires for 
shelter the house is assaulted by the same 
mobs, windows smashed, doors broken, roofs 
pulled off, friends trampled into dust and gut- 
ter, women brutally insulted, men hauled to 
and plunged into horse-ponds and rivers, some 
of his helpers compelled to enlist in the army, 
others shut up in jails as disturbers of the 
peace. Church clerks are the ringleaders, 
under the command of the parish rector ; 
towns are given up to the rioters for days, as 
in Cork city. The coming of a Methodist in 
the street is a signal for a general turnout of all 
the ruffianism of alley and court, hooting, yell- 
ing, and cursing as though hell had been let 
loose and every jail had been emptied of its 
scoundrelism." 

Noblest heroism was born in those days of 



206 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

trial. Their souls burned with the martyr's 
fire that no punishment could put out. Nel- 
son was arrested, but hear him : " Gentlemen, I 
see there is neither law nor justice for a man 
that is called a Methodist;" and addressing 
the clergyman who had him arrested, he said : 
''What do you know of me that is evil? 
Whom have I defrauded?" "You have no 
visible means of getting along," was the reply. 
And that preacher was led off and put into 
the dungeon with not even a stone to stand 
upon. But a little hole gave a gleam of light, 
and from that one little spot he preached to 
the crowds that gathered around. Of kindred 
heroism was the wife, who, coming at early 
morn to put food through the hole, cried out, 
" Fear not ; the cause is of God for which you 
are here, and he will plead it himself; there- 
fore be not concerned about me, for he that 
feeds the ravens will be mindful of us. He 
will give you strength for your day." "What 
was I imprisoned for? For warning the peo- 
ple to flee the wrath to come; and if that 
be a crime I shall commit it again unless you 
cut my tongue out." Persecution raged on all 
sides as the revival increased. Converts mul- 



MARY FLETCHER. 2QJ 

tiplied and criminals increased with conver- 
sion. How utterly absurd the treatment to 
repress the new heresy ! Methodists were 
carried by wagonloads to the magistrates, and 
when accused the complainers would say, 
" These people pray from morning to night." 
One man, reporting his wife, said, i; Please, 
your honor, they have converted my wife ; till 
she went among the Methodists she had such 
a tongue, but now she is as quiet as a lamb." 
" Carry them back," said the magistrate, " and 
let them convert all the scolds of the town." 
If opposition was created the Gospel was not 
repressed. Often men knocked down the min- 
ister, but the Gospel overcame the mob. Not 
a few were those who came to condemn and 
went away to commend. Mr. Gwynne, a mag- 
istrate, determined to arrest a preacher, but 
before proceeding resolved to hear him. He 
carried the riot act with him to disperse the 
people and arrest the man of God ; but, in- 
stead, God's Spirit arrested him, and his beau- 
tiful daughter became the wife of Charles 
Wesley, the song bird of the new reformation. 
Young men of culture and high position would 
come, like Saul, to accuse and scoff, and, 



208 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

like Paul, return overcome by the power of 
God. Conversions of the hardest sinners would 
take place, and many were the men that, com- 
ing only to sneer and condemn, went away sim- 
ply converted. Take the example of Madan, 
the son of an eminent lawyer, and connected 
with the nobility ; he left his comrades in the 
coffee-house to take off the Methodists, and 
entering the place of worship he heard the 
words " Prepare to meet thy God " fall from 
Wesley's lips, and the truth smote him until 
he was converted. He returned, and his asso- 
ciates said, "Well, Madan, did you take off 
the old Methodist ? " " No, gentlemen/' he re- 
plied, " but he has taken me off." Gifted and 
eloquent, that man entered the ministry of the 
despised sect, and was known and revered for 
his devotion even more than his brother, the 
Bishop of Bristol. 

Miss Bosanquet was made to feel the odium 
that was cast upon the new reformation, but 
she faced resolutely every foe that came before 
her. The early Methodists were heroic, and 
it required bravery ; for these men and women 
were gentlemen and ladies, people of wealth 
and even noble lineage, who were treated as 



MARY FLETCHER. 209 

common criminals. We live in a different age, 
when the truth has conquered and tolerance 
prevails ; but our truth comes from their con- 
quest and our tolerance from their fidelity to 
conviction. We reap to-day the rich fruitage 
of their steadfast devotion to great principles, 
and our religious peace was purchased by their 
struggles. In the outward change of villages 
and people — in the sobriety, chastity, and 
honesty — we see the fruits of God's work. 
England was revolutionized, and from John 
o' Groat's to Land's End a new spiritual life was 
manifest. But more beautiful was the trans- 
formation going on in this woman's nature. 
Her work won. The great reform of which 
she was a part allures, but her character, ripen- 
ing in storm and sunshine, compels highest 
admiration. She possessed that " art of saintly 
alchemy by which bitterness is converted into 
kindness, the gall of human experience into 
gentleness, ingratitude into benefits, insults 
into pardon." No malice nor bitterness re- 
mained ; all was purity and charity. The 
hand of oppression never hardened her heart. 
Amid all the sad changes that came her re- 
solve was firm and her love was sweet. Time 



210 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

mellowed her family, and the exiled child 
found those nearest to her embracing the very 
faith that had caused her expulsion from the 
parental roof. Her kindred became her bene- 
factors and delighted in sending her aid. In 
her deepest perplexity they gave financial help, 
while they in return received her prayers, 
which were of more value than silver and gold. 
Prayer was converse with God as well as pe- 
tition. Her faith was rugged, beating down 
difficulties and making a way for the Lord. 
She had the creative faith that sees the invisi- 
ble and actualizes it in the field of sense. Her 
communion with God is simply inspiring ; she 
believed in the absolute God not conditioned 
by his creative laws, but conditioning them. 
Laws were not barriers to keep away the child 
from the throne, but bridges to lead her into 
his presence. Her God was not nominally 
omnipotent, but all which the word contains 
she believed. God's promises were personal, 
and she accepted them as a child appropriates 
the word of its father. Her faith compassed 
the whole field of spirit and sense, not divid- 
ing the realm into nature and the supernat- 
ural, but holding the latter inclusive of the 



MARY FLETCHER. 211 

former. In her temporal life she applied these 
words of Job : " If thou return to the Al- 
mighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put 
away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. Then 
shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of 
Ophir as the stones of the brooks. Yea, the 
Almighty shall be thy defense, and thou shalt 
have plenty of silver." These words were her 
motto in temporal affairs, and were signally 
verified in her long life. She held them be- 
fore the throne in fulfillment of the human 
conditions ; the result was simply startling. 
Financial difficulties came in her orphanage 
work ; she took it to God in prayer, and the 
answer came. Her sister-in-law sent her in 
time of need forty pounds. Her income was 
cut off, and her sister died leaving her 
forty pounds a year. Her uncle passed 
away, leaving a large estate to her brothers 
and nothing to her; but one of them shared 
his portion with her. From all quarters came 
relief in answer to this woman's prayers, until 
she wrote : ' k My prayer seems to have free 
access to the throne, and the speedy answer 
amazes me. I wished for a large, commodious 

place for the people to meet in, and though it 
15 



212 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

seemed impossible it is now accomplished. I 
wished for one hundred pounds to build a 
meetinghouse at the Bank, and, laying it be- 
fore the Lord, that word was again applied, 
' Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be 
established unto thee : and the light shall shine 
upon thy ways.' I subscribed thirty pounds, 
and now I have the whole sum before the 
ground is prepared. I feel the Almighty is 
my defense, and to confirm my faith in spirit- 
ual things by things temporal he does give 
me plenty of silver." 

Kind words came with kindly deeds. How 
comforting this note in the box containing a 
guinea : " My dear child, with much pleasure 
I have heard of your charitable undertakings, 
which I pray God to bless and succeed. Be 
never discouraged though divine Providence 
should exercise you at times even w T ith many 
great and alarming difficulties ; for this is fre- 
quently the way in which God leads his chil- 
dren, in order to prove their faith and prayer." 
She laid everything before God in prayer, small 
things as well as great. She was afflicted, 
and speedy death would seem inevitable ; she 
prayed and applied remedies ; the tumor left her 



MARY FLETCHER. 21 3 

breast and she was cured. She answered her own 
prayers and God answered her prayers. Her 
life seemed a poem of thanksgiving and peti- 
tion. No wonder she wrote, " I wish I had 
more time to attend to my diary ; such won- 
derful answers to prayer are given me as ought 
to be recorded." Evidently the secret of 
God's power was open unto her, and her life 
but declares what this faithless age should 
learn, that God still answers prayer for food 
and raiment as in the days of old. Tennyson 
has truthfully sung : 

" More things are wrought by prayer 

Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice 

Rise like a fountain for me night and day. 

For what are men better than sheep and goats, 

That nourish a blind life within the brain, 

If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer 

Both for themselves and those who call them friends ! 

For so the whole earth is in every way 

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God." 

Prayer was not only answered in opening 
up opportunities of doing good, but its subjec- 
tive influence was most powerful. With the 
strength of faith taking hold on God came 
the beauty of holiness, reflecting him. Prayer 
continued, but the richer answer came out in 
her inner life. " He does not answer by sweet 



214 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

comfort only, but by power over sin and purity 
of mind in a good degree and an almost con- 
stant act of sacrifice. I love his will, sweet or 
bitter, but I want him, as the bride in the Can- 
ticles, to kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, 
for this love is better than wine." 

Humanitarian work needs great sympathy. 
In no work is love more necessary than in an or- 
phanage, asylum, or hospital, and in no place do 
we find so much unnatural treatment. Mother- 
hood is earth's noblest and strongest love, and 
yet that love, so deep and exhaustive, has its 
limitations. It requires a great heart to mother 
many children, and the celibate is often the 
possessor of the least of it. The occasional 
exposi of our public orphanages reveals the 
greatest inhumanity. Rare is the woman who 
can be mother unto many children. Bishop 
Potter said that in a London orphanage were 
found girls who did not know how to kiss. The 
heart bleeds when it thinks of the little help- 
less children never bathed in kisses or caressed 
in loving arms. The noblest tribute to this 
woman's broad heart of love and her discharge 
of her ministry is the fact that the first orphan 
taken to her arms remained with her as a 



MARY FLETCHER. 21 5 

daughter and, repeating her ministry, continued 
with her until death. 

Work for humanity drains human sympathy 
very quickly and paralyzes human love. He 
whose heart was a treasury of overflowing vir- 
tue was compelled to seek the shelter of the 
hills as a closet of prayer, that his strength 
might be renewed, for the tax on his heart was 
heavy. Christ called his disciples apart to rest 
awhile, and they needed it, for the world was 
emptying them. Yes, even Christ had to 
flee society and abide with God to gather 
back the wasted resources that were drained 
out by human woe. He could not bear the 
"sweet sad music of humanity" as it poured 
into his heart, but was compelled to enter 
the higher shrines of God's great temple and 
in silence beneath the stars hold on to his 
Father and have his strength renewed. Our 
little vessels of charity are soon emptied, and 
were it not that we can turn to Christ, the 
source of highest love, our work would soon 
become professional, our hearts would grow 
cold, and the spirit of the hireling would con- 
quer. 

This woman's strong nature was kept from 



2l6 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

depletion by constant walk with God. If the 
first promise, " Thou shalt have plenty of sil- 
ver," made successful her outward ministry, 
the promise, " Thou shalt walk with me in 
white," made beautiful her inner life. Outward 
prosperity is not an evidence of God's favor. 
The greatest riches are the wealth of the heart. 
God's presence is the highest evidence of God's 
favor. Charles Wesley has expressed the 
haunting desire of every Christian heart : 

" Thy gifts, alas ! will not suffice, 

Unless thyself be given ; 
Thy presence makes my paradise, 

And where thou art is heaven." 

Companionship with God is the heart's chief 
joy. To know him as an abiding friend, to 
walk with him in heart-purity is the highest 
privilege, and to this end Mary Bosanquet 
wrought and loved and prayed. Like Phcebe, 
a deaconess, she administered to the poor and 
helpless ; like Anna, a prophetess, she pro- 
claimed the glad tidings ; but the sweet-voiced 
evangel is lost in the higher appellation of 
saint. Her austerity was severe even unto 
deprivation. It was of a nature described by 
Amiel: "Austerity in women is sometimes the 



MARY FLETCHER. 217 

accompaniment of a rare power of loving, and 
when it is so their attachment is as strong as 
death, their fidelity as resisting as the diamond ; 
they are hungry for devotion and athirst for 
sacrifice. Their love is piety, their tenderness 
a religion, and they triple the energy of love 
by giving to it the sanctity of duty." It was 
so in this devoted woman's ministry. Une- 
qualed in diligence, she was assiduous in 
charity. Her benevolence was limited only 
by her resources. As she grew in spirituality 
she became more self-denying, until at last only 
a meager sum was spent upon herself. Her 
income was guarded that it might be distrib- 
uted. In one year her raiment cost only nine- 
teen shillings and sixpence. Her personal ex- 
penses never exceeded five pounds per annum, 
while her offerings to the poor amounted an- 
nually to nearly two hundred pounds. Heart, 
hand, and tongue were all consecrated unto 
God's service, and as deaconess and prophet 
and almoner she did her duty. 

Allied to extreme generosity was her strong 
bias toward justice. Her benevolence did not 
destroy the judicial sense that often blinds men 
to the rights of others. She was conscientious 



218 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

to a fault, and ever preferred to suffer depriva- 
tion rather than even seem to be unjust. A 
rich young lady who made her home with 
her bequeathed her orphanage two thousand 
pounds ; but she would not accept it, and com- 
pelled the will to be altered, lest it might be 
said she unduly influenced her. Her friend did 
but remonstrate, saying, " Had I lived to have 
had my own way I should have given you much 
more; for I know God is with you." When 
her father was dying he sent for her and said 
he would alter his will, and she should receive 
her natural portion ; but the disinherited child 
would not allow the testament to be changed, 
and she remained disinherited. To many 
minds she erred, for she was entitled to her 
portion ; but her ideas were so lofty, her mo- 
tives so pure, that she v/ould not allow any- 
thing to be done that might cast a shadow of 
suspicion on her good name. Her conduct 
finds a kindred example in Charles Borromeo, 
who would not receive for the Roman Church 
bequests from those who left friends dependent 
upon them. The rapacity of the Church has 
often outraged the demands of family and 
kindred, but this woman, needing money, held 



MARY FLETCHER. 2IO, 

in highest sanctity the rights of others as well 
as the claims of her work. We cannot help 
admiring the spirit that would spurn to do 
evil or even to have the good name tarnished. 
But she needed money. Her work was always 
beyond her income, and at times greatly 
jeopardized. Her very success created finan- 
cial demands beyond her purse ; for, like every 
Christian, she ventured, she trusted. She 
carried into her work her faith, and, although 
there was uncertainty and worry, somehow 
in God's good hour the clouds were lifted, the 
difficulties solved, and success assured. She 
only emphasized the poet's words : 

" Trust ! To those who trust all things prove true ; 

Have faith, and faith will make thee strong, 

So strong, indeed, 'twill not be long 
Ere thou shalt do what thou wouldst do." 

Her difficulties evoked some amusing ex- 
periences. Men saw her plunging into debt, and 
would save the cargo by capturing the pilot ; 
but Miss Bosanquet would not give her hand 
to a man merely because he could pay her 
debts. She was not progressive, nor had she 
the American idea of selling herself for gold. 
Her financial troubles increased and also her 



220 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

suitors ; she attracted men of wealth, who 
would gladly have shared their heart and 
home with this woman, but she was not easily- 
ensnared. One persistent cavalier flaunted his 
gold before her eyes, thinking her adversity 
would be his opportunity, and had the audacity 
to say he had the money to pay all her debts if 
she would only become his wife ; but she pre- 
ferred to carry her burden and keep her own 
heart. In the darkest hour, when orphanage 
and home were in great peril, and her faith 
was tested unto the utmost, quickly the per- 
plexities were solved ; money flowed in from the 
living and from the dead ; obligations were can- 
celed, and Mary Bosanquet entered a new and 
a higher relation and became the wife of 
Rev. John Fletcher. Nothing is more beauti- 
ful in all history than the hidden love of this 
earnest woman. The romance of the storied 
love of Dante for Beatrice vanishes when he 
tells us he saw his fair friend but once, and 
then a little girl of twelve years dressed in 
red calico. Her virtues were the created ideals 
of the poetic brain. The lawless love of Abe- 
lard and Heloise sinks before the sacred fire 
burning in the hearts of Miss Bosanquet and 



MARY FLETCHER. 221 

her friend. We admire the devotion of the 
great scholar ; but his fire was not like the sacred 
flame that burnt in silence in this woman's 
heart. No estimate of this life would be com- 
plete without an allusion to the tender senti- 
ment that possessed her soul. She was in love 
fifteen years, and her friend carried his secret 
seventeen years. Cupid smote lover and loved 
with the same dart, but they both carried the 
wound in silence. Love letters are always in- 
teresting, and the old story never wearies 
when told. She told a dear friend that " it is 
sometimes presented to my mind that I should 
be called upon to marry Mr. Fletcher." About 
the same time he wrote to Charles Wesley as 
follows : " You ask me a singular question, and 
I shall answer it with a smile, as I suppose 
you asked it. I might have remarked that for 
some days before I set off for Madeley I con- 
sidered matrimony with a different eye to what 
I had done, and the person who then pre- 
sented herself to my imagination was Miss 
Bosanquet." 

The hidden fire burned in the saint's soul 
until, returning from a journey in Italy and 
other countries, he declared his love. His wife 



222 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

has left us this little bit of romance : " In June, 
1 78 1, I received a letter saying for twenty-five 
years he had found a regard for me, while he 
was still as sincere as ever; and though it 
might have appeared odd he should write on 
such a subject when just returned from abroad, 
and more so without seeing me first, he could 
only say that his mind was so strongly drawn 
to it that he believed it to be the order of 
God's providence. It was amid the June roses 
that the lover poured out his soul, and the 
brief life that followed was a summer of sweet- 
est fragrance and beauty. Fletcher had not 
dared to aspire to the hand of this lady of 
fortune, for while he was of noble lineage, and 
a graduate of Geneva, yet he was a stranger in 
England and only a rector of an obscure parish. 
But Cupid has little patience with a tardy 
lover, and Fletcher was fortunate in winning 
his bride ; and she was to be felicitated on 
winning the heart of one whose gifts of intel- 
lect and heart are not surpassed in the records 
of any age or Church. She was a noble 
woman and worthy of the highest sphere, and 
he was also of the nobility, bearing not only 
the patent of earthly honor, but the stamp of 



MARY FLETCHER. 223 

that higher society which finds its rank and 
character proven by heroic deeds. Fletcher 
was born in Switzerland and educated in the 
university of its capital. His ancestry were of 
noble family and his father a colonel in the 
French army. He found himself drawn to a 
similar vocation, but Providence had for him a 
different calling. Like Robertson, he had the 
military spirit, which he carried over into his 
spiritual life. A chain of marvelous incidents 
in childhood and strange circumstances in early 
manhood landed him a stranger in London, 
unable even to speak the English tongue. From 
a child he was religious, and his studies were 
directed toward the ministry of the Church ; 
but, scholarly and conscientious, he revolted 
against the faith of Calvin, and found himself 
in England without a creed. The life of God 
remained, but there was no harmony between 
his intellectual convictions and his fathers' 
faith. He was just where thousands of Calvin- 
ists are to-day ; not out of Christ, not out of 
Presbyterianism, but out of John Calvin's in- 
terpretation of God's word. The larger intellec- 
tual vision has caused a break with the creed ; 
they are still loyal to Christ. His knowledge 



224 TH E FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

of Methodism was gained by the wayside from 
a humble woman with whom he conversed. 
He was on his way to London with a Mr. Hill, 
a member of Parliament in whose family he was 
a tutor, and when, having overtaken the family, 
he spoke of the conversation, Mrs. Hill said, 
" I shall not wonder if our tutor does not turn 
Methodist by and by." " Methodist, madam ? " 
said he; " pray what is that?" She replied, 
" Why, the Methodists are a people that do 
nothing but pray ; they are praying all day and 
all night." "Are they?" said he; " then by 
the help of God I will find them out if they be 
above ground." He did find them out, and be- 
came a pillar of strength and beauty. He was 
a most remarkable man, and it may be ques- 
tioned if in all the qualities that make an ideal 
minister any Church has produced his equal. 
Infidel and Christian thought have passed but 
one judgment upon this servant of God. I 
confess to a feeling of awe in the attempt to 
describe him. He wins by intellect and 
charity ; but his character has in it so much of 
other-worldliness that, allured by it, we also 
seemed repelled. We lay down his works and 
must concur with Dollinger, " that his Checks are 



MARY FLETCHER. 22$ 

the most important religious writings that came 
from the press in the eighteenth century." 

We lay down his Memoirs and wonder if such 
a man really lived. He was a well-rounded 
man. He was a clean writer ; a controver- 
sialist, keeping sweet his temper while de- 
fending his views of truth. Without bitterness 
he wrote strong words, laying deeply the 
foundation of the new faith. He was a bril- 
liant and popular preacher, having a face so 
angelic and expressive that thousands followed 
him. He was a rare and inspiring teacher. 
As principal of the Trevecca College he would 
not only meet the students in the lecture 
rooms, but follow them in the closet, and, like 
the later German professors, take them with 
him, and, while filling their minds with knowl- 
edge, fill also their hearts with Christ. He was 
a model rector ; but, alas ! where in history is 
there a man like him ? He did not accept the 
best place as the loudest call, but the place in 
which he could do most good. He rejected a 
parish with a two hundred pounds income, that 
his friend presenting it said was good pay and 
easy work, and exchanged it for one of eighty 
pounds income among a rude and half-civi- 



226 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

lized community. What an ideal minister, 
and what a rebuke to the. whole crowd of self- 
seekers that flock around modern altars, and 
if they cannot be chief will not serve; who, 
instead of creating new places and bringing 
things to pass, can only minister at altars 
already built and feed upon sacrifices already 
made ! This man's Memoirs should be a man- 
ual of private devotion for bishops and all 
clergy, and if read three times a year would 
produce a revival in the pulpit where it is 
most needed. 

The British Church has no saint on its cal- 
endar whose writings and character surpass 
those of Fletcher of Madeley. In holiness of 
life he has his place with McCheyne, Summer- 
field, Payson, and our own sainted Alfred 
Cookman. He was of that lofty Johannean 
type which rarely appears in a Christian 
Church. His pen thrills to-day and sweeps 
away errors, and his life stimulates to holy liv- 
ing. Fletcher was the advocate of the new 
movement. Trained in Geneva, he is her best 
gift to the new Church that was rising out of 
the loins of the national Church. Calvinism 
yielded Fletcher to Methodism, and in return 



MARY FLETCHER. 227 

Methodism gave, in the ministry of Whitefield 
in America, her best gifts to Calvinism. 
Through his preaching all Churches were aid- 
ed, but especially Presbyterian churches of 
America. Methodism gave to Presbyterianism 
one of her most eloquent speakers, and Presby- 
terianism gave in return Fletcher, the keen, 
logical writer and holy saint. Two men of most 
opposite faith and of rarest training have given 
by word and act their opinion of Fletcher. He 
was the man selected by John Wesley to take 
his place after his death, and the choice reveals 
the estimate of his ability. Francis Newman, 
the brother of the late Cardinal Newman, and 
his peer in intellectual endowments, has de- 
clared that the character of John Fletcher was 
holier than that of Christ, so lofty was the esti- 
mate put upon this man. But he forgot that all 
the grace which ennobled John Fletcher w r as 
derived from a copy and worship of Christ. If 
Christ, the creator of sainthood, had not lived, 
Fletcher of Madeley would not have attained 
to the position which he held; for Christ's 
perfect example and sacrifice were the nutri- 
ment that produced the character. 

It was this man, the scholar, the eloquent 
10 



228 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

preacher, and the saint, unto whom Mary Bosan- 
quet was united in marriage ; and it may be 
doubted if in conjugal bonds two more congen- 
ial souls were ever united. They were corre- 
spondent in many ideals and actions. There was 
a social equality of fortune and family ; there 
was an intellectual attraction in the training 
which both had received ; there was a sympathy 
in their humane work that flowed out in the 
same channels ; a kinship in vocation, both 
preaching, and not the wife making the ser- 
mons ; and a fellowship of soul in the same 
aspirations after holiness that burned as a 
passion in their hearts. It was a marriage of 
pure but of highest sentiment, a real romance 
beneath the dull skies of Britain. Divine love 
does not destroy or absorb human love, but 
only refines and chastens it; and Christ's first 
miracle, performed at a marriage, will ever be 
his estimate of that high estate. Miss Bosan- 
quet was great as a deaconess, living a celi- 
bate life ; but she was greater as a wife. Celib- 
acy is no sacrament, nor marriage either ; but 
there is no relation that is so radiant with the 
virtues of heaven as that of husband and wife; 
and that relation was adorned by them. 



MARY FLETCHER. 229 

Never did sentiment shine more brightly than 
in the hearts of this holy pair. God's love 
only sanctified the human love, and intimate 
fellowship with Christ, the Head of the Church, 
only made stronger the tie which made them 
one. They believed their match was made in 
heaven — a rather dangerous faith ; for if mar- 
riages are made there some get broken on the 
way. They made the dangerous vow that 
they would not limit their union to the words 
" until death us do part," and they kept it. A 
deathless pledge is ever a perilous vow, for 
love is not always an act of the will, and many 
a pair have plighted their troth eternal and 
some winsome sprite has crossed their path 
and the marriage service has been repeated. 
Their life was as pure and musical as the sound 
of a marriage bell. Tennyson has painted it 
in his " In Memoriam : " 

"Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers, 

Whose loves in higher love endure ; 

What souls possess themselves so pure ? 
Or is there blessedness like theirs ?" 

Brief bliss was their portion ; but four short 
years, and the silver cord was loosened and 
Mary Fletcher was alone again. We have lit- 



23O THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

tie glimpses of that life at Madeley. Marriage 
to Miss Bosanquet was a relief from financial 
perplexity, but not a release from the work 
she loved ; her field was changed but not her 
work. Cross Hall was closed and Madeley 
was opened. Here the same kindly aid was 
manifest. Chapels were built out of her pri- 
vate funds, schools were established, and the 
sick visited and relieved. The angelic minis- 
try was soon felt ; hundreds were reformed and 
gathered into the Church. She did not hide 
her message because she was married, but still 
preached. She would never enter her hus- 
band's pulpit in church or chapel, but would 
stand among the people and tell the old, old 
story. Her modesty forbade the taking of her 
husband's place, but did not prevent her giv- 
ing her message. 

In her home the same generous hospitality 
was dispensed. It was styled an " inn " for 
God's people, and the good cheer of Cross 
Hall was repeated at Madeley. Christly fel- 
lowship supplemented Christly work, and 
within the beautiful home mingled Wesley 
and other godly men who were working to bring 
England back to Christ. Epvvorth is a beauti- 



MARY FLETCHER. 23 I 

ful picture, but Madeley is still finer. Senti- 
ment found expression, but colored by the spir- 
itual life. Nothing shows a more beautiful 
blending of the spiritual and social in home than 
this little incident; some friends ride up to 
Madeley but will not dismount ; whereupon the 
good saint sends a servant to bring out some 
bread and wine, and as he distributes the food 
he blesses it, saying, " Take, eat, this is my 
body." The spiritual was so blended with the 
temporal life that every feast became a sacra- 
ment and every meeting of his friends a fel- 
lowship of Christ. The whole atmosphere of 
those brief years was fragrant with holiness, 
and wherever Fletcher trod the spirit of 
Christ was manifest. Wesley said of Mary 
Fletcher's husband: " I was intimately ac- 
quainted with him for thirty years. I con- 
versed with him morning, noon, and night 
without the least reserve during a journey of 
many hundred miles, and in all that time I 
never heard him speak an improper word or 
saw him do an improper action. Within four- 
score years I have known many excellent men, 
holy in heart and life, but one equal to him I 
have not known; one so uniformly and deeply 



232 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

devoted to God, so unblamable a man in every 
respect, I have not found either in America or 
Europe ; nor do I expect to find another such 
on this side of eternity." 

Wesley's estimate of Fletcher was of the 
highest and its sincerity proven by his choice 
of him as his successor when he must leave the 
societies he had formed. In a letter he de- 
scribes the kind of man fitted for leadership : 
u Qualified to preside over both preachers and 
people, he must be a man of faith and love, 
and one that has a single eye to the advance- 
ment of the kingdom of God. He must have 
a clear understanding of men and things, par- 
ticularly of the Methodist doctrine and disci- 
pline. He must likewise have some degree of 
learning, because there are many adversaries, 
learned as well as unlearned, whose mouths 
must be stopped. But has God provided one 
so qualified? Who is he? Thou art the 
man." 

The venerable Wesley was not permitted to 
have his friend take his place as under-shep- 
herd of the infant Church, for in 1785 he closed 
his ministry at Madeley. On the Sabbath of 
the 7th of August he gave the holy com- 



MARY FLETCHER. 233 

munion to his people and returned to his home, 
and on the following Sabbath, as the first day- 
was ending, the saint entered eternal rest. A 
week of agony and of ecstasy passed before the 
change came, the spirit half released pouring 
out continual praise until the voice was hushed 
in death. We pause before such a life ; we are 
silent before such a death. 

Mrs. Fletcher kept fresh the memory of her 
sainted husband, and the anniversary of their 
marriage was kept sacred as a day of special 
prayer and worship. She believed in the com- 
munion of the saints, and did not shut out her 
friends because they had passed into a higher 
life. She believed they were ministering angels 
sent forth to minister for them who shall be 
heirs of salvation. She held : 

" Ours the communion of all saints, 
The Churches' faithful dead, 
To cheer us when our spirits faint, 
And hope and strength are fled." 

John and Mary Fletcher walked on the high- 
est plane of Christian living, not lowering the 
standard of the Gospel nor walking in high 
places unworthily, but accepting the whole 
counsel of God, bowing intellect, heart, and 



234 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

will, and seeking to actualize that will in a 
perfect obedience unto God. How perfectly 
these two souls walked before God we know 
not ; but we can see in the fruit of faith won- 
drously beautiful lives. Holiness is attractive. 
He that stood on the grassy slopes of Galilee 
pressing with hallowed feet the fragrant flowers 
was so winning that men thronged in crowds 
unto him. The image of holiness was so at- 
tractive that men would sacrifice everything so 
that they might see Jesus. This nature fol- 
lowed Fletcher and his wife. When preaching 
in the city of Dublin in French, which the peo- 
ple could not understand, they would silently 
stand gazing, and the transfigured face became 
to them a gospel read and known. 

" There's a sweetness of sound in his talking tones, 
Betraying the gentle spirit within." 

Their lives were remarkable — almost a perfect 
bridal of profession and character — and show 
us that union of word and deed which makes a 
true Christian. Do their sacrifice and gener- 
osity win us ? then their holy walk is still 
more alluring, Do we see the hand of God in 
loving guidance removing perplexities, solving 
doubts, and yielding earthly blessings? Then 



MARY FLETCHER. 2$$ 

we see it still more evident in molding them 
into his own likeness. Giants in energy and 
sacrifice, they are still greater in holiness. 
Some characters are like Meissonier's paint- 
ings, you can examine them under a micro- 
scope, and find the finish and detail almost per- 
fect ; so of these two saints : placed under the 
focal light of this critical age they elicit the 
highest encomiums. They were holy; they 
exemplified the great doctrine of Methodism, 
spreading scriptural holiness throughout the 
land. Christ puts the highest standard be- 
fore men, and if the Church would cease argu- 
ment and lead men up to it there would 
be progress. The true leader brings the 
soldier up to the standard, and takes not the 
flag back to the rear. Christ said, " Be ye 
therefore perfect, even as your Father which 
is in heaven is perfect," and Methodism dares 
to lead humanity up to that command. It 
is a high command, but just what the Gos- 
pel demands. Christianity is a perfect revela- 
tion. Christ is a perfect pattern, and men can 
follow it until the God in the soul will be mani- 
fest in all they do. " Wesley," said Dean Stan- 
ley, " had a genius for holiness." The early 



236 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

converts professed it. Lady Maxwell was not 
more noted for her deeds of charity than for 
her holy living. Lady Fitzgerald was a con- 
spicuous example of holiness in high places ; 
Mary Fletcher prayed that she might walk with 
God in white, and her pure life would seem to 
be the answer to her prayer. Methodism em- 
phasizes life more than doctrine, and holds be- 
fore humanity, as its central gift, purity. It 
demands first that man be pure, and that re- 
moves it from all other creeds and allies it with 
Calvinism and Arminianism ; for heart purity 
is the possession of all who sincerely desire it. 
Character was the crown of the Wesleyan ref- 
ormation. It was not only a return to apos- 
tolic teaching, but also to apostolic living. 
Holiness, Christ's first command, was their 
ideal, and they dared to declare its possibility. 
Mrs. Fletcher's definition of the higher life all 
Christians will accept : " It is to be perfectly 
ingrafted into the vine, to have no impediment 
remaining to hinder the flow of the sap ; and 
while the soul thus abides by faith it brings 
forth much fruit and experimentally knows the 
meaning of those words of St. John, ' Whoso- 
ever abideth in him sinneth not.' ' 



MARY FLETCHER. 237 

She looked without for her standard, the 
word of God, but looked within for its con- 
firmation. The higher witness was the king- 
dom of God within, for she held, with Wesley's 
father, " The inward witness, my son, the in- 
ward witness, that is the proof, the strongest 
proof, of Christianity." 

Mary Fletcher's life was prolonged beyond 
that of her family and friends. Work for 
Christ gave increasing strength, and she lin- 
gered unto seventy-six years, doing her work 
of charity. 

Sleep came, and with it the final sleep of 
death. She said to her friend in attendance, 
"Are you in bed?" She answered, "I am." 
She replied, " That is right. Now, if I can, I 
will rest. Let our hearts be united in prayer, 
and the Lord bless both thee and me." The 
night watch passed, and the dawn was the 
eternal morning. 

Well may Burder, the author of Pious 
Women, say that " in the apostolic age she 
would have been a Priscilla and have taken 
her place among the presbyteresses or female 
confessors of the primitive Church. Had she 
been in the Roman Church she would probably 



238 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

have been enrolled among the saints of the 
calendar." 

We know no character in Church history 
like her, none so rounded and well developed 
spiritually as this Englishwoman. She is not 
Hebraic, and yet there is manifest in her the 
highest virtues of that old Church — the tongue 
of a Miriam, the leadership of a Deborah, the 
service of a Hannah, and the devotion of a 
Mary. She is not Roman, and yet we see the 
spirit of a Paula clear and distinct in her 
charity and work among helpless childhood 
and suffering humanity. Like St. Theresa, her 
soul was filled with visions of faith, but with- 
out the superstitions that clouded the creed of 
her Spanish sister. Like Madame Guyon, she 
had the witness and communion of the Holy 
Spirit, but her leverage of the Scriptures kept 
her back from error in devotion. All that is 
winning in the older Churches comes out in her 
life, and much that is holy in her self-sacrific- 
ing ministry. 

History, gemmed with honored names, in 
whom the grace of God has been magnified, 
has none on her roll more beautiful than this 
devout woman. Fiction by the pen of George 



MARY FLETCHER. 239 

Eliot, a genius in intellect, portrays Dinah 
Morris, in Adam Bedc, called by critics the 
finest woman of fiction ; but the idealized 
portrait of her Methodist aunt, the woman 
preacher, falls far below the strange and won- 
drous beauty of the actual life of Mary Fletcher. 
The world of moral beauty has long pointed to 
her noble husband as one of the purest men pro- 
duced by the Church of Christ. His scholar- 
ship, winning the commendation of Catholic 
and Protestant alike, is surpassed by the saint- 
liness of character that wins and holds all 
hearts aspiring after heart purity. But how- 
ever upright that life there stood by his side 
in union of soul and spirit one equally pure 
and beneficent ; one touched by the refining 
hand of the Master of Galilee has become rep- 
resentative of our own revered communion, 
which, teaching Christ's command, " Be ye per- 
fect," has illustrated it in the life of this sainted 
woman — a woman broad and sympathetic ; a 
deaconess full of good works, clothing the 
naked, feeding the hungry, and sheltering the 
homeless ; a preacher declaring in sweet tones 
the glad tidings, until thousands hung in sus- 
pense upon her winged sentences; and above 



240 THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS. 

all a saint reflecting in the beauty of holiness 
even more than in deed the highest virtues of 
the Christian life. 

Mary Fletcher, pure and beautiful name ! 
Christ is made more alluring by thy life, and 
his Church more winning by thy reverent 
service. 

" O, may I join the choir invisible 

Of those immortal dead who live again 

In minds made better by their presence ; live 

In pulses stirred to generosity, 

In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn 

For miserable aims that end with self, 

In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, 

And with their mild persistence urge man's search 

To vaster issues." 



r^eishodigm In the ^ighei 1 jBooietif of the 
American (£oIonjeg. 



" I have known few Christians in whose theology, experi- 
ence, and daily life Christ occupied so exalted a place. He 
was literally the Alpha and Omega — the beginning and end 
— of her religion." — President Olin, Memorial Sermon on 
Katharine Livingston Garrettson. 

" As I understand it, Christianity is above all religions, and 
religion is not a method, it is a life, a higher and supernatural 
life, mystical in its root and practical in its fruits, a com- 
munion with God, a calm and deep enthusiasm, a love which 
radiates, a force which acts, a happiness which overflows." — 
Amiel. 

" Not sedentary all : there are who roam 

To scatter seeds of life on barbarous shores." — Wordsworth. 

" Among the coadjutors of Asbury there were none more 
blameless in spirit, more fervent in zeal, or more devoted in 
life than Freeborn Garrettson. Like his Master he went 
about doing good, and he did it freely. He went a warfare 
at his own charges, having never asked any compensation for 
preaching, nor ever received any unless forced upon him, and 
then he would on the first opportunity give it to some needy 
brother. 

" In preaching the Gospel, in service to the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and in aiding the cause of humanity, he 
spent all his time, all his patrimony, and all the surplus in- 
come of the ample property of his wife. 

" Blessed be the memory of Freeborn Garrettson, the gen- 
tleman, the philanthropist, the Christian ! " — Asbury and His 
Coadjutors. 

" Then I unbar the doors ; my paths lead out 

The exodus of nations ; I disperse 

Men to all shores that front the hoary main. 

I, too, have arts and sorceries ; 

Illusion dwells forever with the wave. 

I make some coast alluring, some lone isle, 

To distant men, who must go there or die." — Emerson. 



KATHARINE LIVINGSTON GARRETTSON. 

METHODISM was introduced into the 
New World by the voice and hand of 
woman. Barbara Heck, a devout young Ger- 
man woman, in New York city, enters a card 
party, and, snatching the cards from the game- 
sters, throws them in the fire, and then, going 
to the home of Philip Embury, a Wesleyan ex- 
horter, compels him to stir up the suppressed 
gift of the Spirit, and establish service for the 
worship of God. By common consent this 
young woman is honored as the founder of 
American Methodism. Through her exhor- 
tations Philip Embury, the German palatine, 
from Ireland, was quickened in faith, and Meth- 
odism was planted in the virgin soil of a new 
world. American Methodism and Presbyte- 
rianism derive their origin through Ireland. 
The island that sent Boniface to Germany 
sent Makemie and Mackie to plant Presbyte- 
rianism and Philip Embury to plant Meth- 
odism in America. Both Churches, as Dean 

Stanley has said, owe their origin to the zeal 
17 



244 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

of Irish missionaries. As Wesley learned of 
the young Moravian professor, Bohler, so 
from a little band of exiled Protestants of the 
palatinate came the founders of the American 
Church. In the persistent faith and protest of 
this young woman we can read the effect of the 
Gospel on the German heart, which naturally 
takes kindly to the subjective faith of Meth- 
odism. Barbara Heck's German Bible was her 
guide in beginning a great work, her constant 
companion through life, and death, summon- 
ing, found her on bended knee with its open 
pages still before her. No religion is more fitted 
for the German mind than that of our revered 
Church. Dogmatism finds but little favor 
among the Germans. A nation of thinkers, 
an inward religion finds a speedier welcome ; 
so we can understand how Methodism once 
rooted in the heart cannot be easily displaced. 
The Church, beginning in humble surround- 
ings, soon won its way among all classes, and 
it was not long before it permeated with its 
new life the highest social station, and the 
most eminent families shared with the few 
emigrants from England and Ireland the peace 
and joy of a new faith. As in England the 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 245 

movement flowed out into two streams encir- 
cling the court life and transforming it, and 
touching the lower life to purify and ennoble 
it, so this dual ministry was repeated in the 
colonies. If the first society was represent- 
ative of culture, wealth, and social position in 
the Old World, so was it in the New. Among 
the contributors and adherents of the first 
American Church we see the most distin- 
guished names of colonial New York : the 
Livingstons, Van Cortlandts, Duanes, Lispe- 
nards, and others, representing the highest 
and best life of its commercial center. Meth- 
odism soon entered the wealthiest family of 
New York and one of the most honored of the 
American colonies, that of Honorable Robert 
Livingston, a family of distinction in Scotland 
in the time of Marie Stuart, and of social and 
political prominence in the earlier life of the 
colonies. Judge Livingston's father was edu- 
cated in Scotland, and brought back to his 
country the rare fruit that has ever come out 
of the colleges of old Scotia. Said a friend, 
" If I were cast upon an island and had the 
choice of one companion and one book I 
would select Judge Livingston and the Bible." 



246 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

Margaret Beekman, the wife of Robert 
Livingston, shared the lofty spirit and nobility 
of her distinguished husband, possessing with 
him the best lineage of the colonies and its 
highest social life. She was a lofty type of 
the colonial matron, presiding with grace and 
dignity over her large family, and ruling by 
benignity and moral worth the polite world 
into which she entered. Sharing by inheri- 
tance the old patroon life of her ancestry that 
had made the banks of the Hudson memorial 
of a baronial life in the New World, she was 
broad, independent, and patriotic. One inci^ 
dent reveals the lofty Roman spirit of Margaret 
Beekman. In the revolt of the colonies from 
the mother-country, her country home became 
a scene of strife, and a wounded British officer 
and surgeon were nursed in her house ; and 
when the army was approaching with torch 
and bayonet they said, " We will spare your 
house for your kindness ; " but that Spartan 
mother would accept no favor from her coun- 
try's foes. She quickly collected her family and 
household goods, and as she looked back in her 
flight she saw smoke arising from her burning 
home. In her humanity she would nurse the 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 247 

bitterest foes, but in her patriotism would 
spurn the least gift at their hands. In that 
broad philanthropy and stern, self-denying 
patriotism we can see the antecedents of what 
has been called the most eminent family of the 
American colonies ; one of brilliant, cultivated, 
and devoted daughters, and of brave and noble 
sons. 

Robert, the eldest son, was one of the com- 
mittee of five that drafted the Declaration of 
Independence. He administered as chancellor 
the oath of office to Washington when elected 
President of the United States. Edward, the 
youngest, filled successively the offices of 
Mayor of New York city, United States Sena- 
tor, Secretary of State under Jackson, and 
Minister to France. He was the author of 
the penal code of Louisiana, a compact so 
humane that Sweden and Russia honored its 
author ; that caused a German professor, when 
introduced to him in Germany, to clasp him 
and call him the " world's benefactor." No 
American ever stood higher abroad than this 
statesman whose humane spirit embodied in 
law is the admiration of all ages. 

Katharine Livingston was first led to a 



248 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

knowledge of Christ through a humble servant 
in the family. Her conversion was thorough, 
and produced the deeper fruits of peace and 
joy all through her honored life. Her decision 
made, she at once united with the people of 
her choice, and in a long life, reaching almost 
to a hundred years, was a beautiful example of 
holiness unto God. Her conversion at once 
elicited comment, as the unjust prejudices that 
followed our faith in the Old World were taken 
up on this side of the water. Even her own 
family were perplexed at her profession and a 
little mortified. Edward Eggleston tells this 
story to a friend,* and I must share it with 
you. After Miss Livingston's conversion a de- 
voted brother, seeing the joyousness of his 
favorite sister's Christian life at home, took her 
part in the family. At the same time he took 
her aside and said, " Katharine, enjoy your re- 
ligion here at home all you please, but for 
heaven's sake don't join those Methodists. 
Why, down here at the Ferry nobody belongs 
to them, and there's nothing of them only 
three fishermen and a Negro." Whereupon 
the sister, " one of the fairest flowers of our 

* Rev. Dr. Hargis. 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 249 

colonial life," blushed and spoke up: "Well, 
what if, as you say, now, nobody belongs to the 
Methodists? I will join them, and then you 
will say somebody does." She did join them, 
and brought to the altar and service of our 
revered Church a devotion and love that has 
made her name honored wherever its teachings 
are known. Her high social position did not 
excuse her from service among God's children. 
She asked no privilege on account of position, 
nor exemption from the claims of the Gospel. 
She took up the cross in high places, and 
taught by earnest work for Christ that true 
nobility consists in service, and that they who 
are highest born should stoop to the lowest. 
She did not patronize the Gospel, and, making 
a profession of Christ, yield no labor, but from 
the hour of her conversion the joy that thrilled 
her heart became an inspiration to holy en- 
deavor; her tongue, touched by heaven's fire, 
burst out in sweetest tones of persuasion ; her 
hands, unloosened, wrought in earnest minis- 
try ; and her feet ran in glad speed, as God's 
evangel, to tell the story of Christ's love. 

Katharine Livingston was not a negative 
but a positive woman, and she brought to the 



250 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

new faith all the winning qualities that made 
her and her accomplished sisters the circle 
drawing to their home the highest men and 
women of the republic. She was cultivated, 
her attainments being those of the best of the 
period. French was the common language of 
the family, and it was familiar to alt its mem- 
bers. It was, no doubt, this bond of culture 
in part that made her father's house the most 
welcome home to Lafayette and his country- 
men, who so often shared its kindly good 
cheer. Miss Livingston was a society woman ; 
her social ties united her to the Warrens of 
Boston, to the Washingtons of Virginia, and 
the leading families all over the Atlantic coast. 
Judge Livingston's homes were in the colonies 
what Lady Huntingdon's were in England ; 
and some that shared the grace and courtesy 
of the one also were welcome guests in the 
other. Miss Livingston's religious life did not 
remove her away from her friends. Her re- 
ligion was spiritual and social. It bound her 
closer to her loved ones, and, while its out- 
ward profession might demand self-denial and 
the abandonment of certain social usages, it 
did not make her ascetic or morbid. Her new 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 25 I 

life was joyous, and it flowed out in character 
radiant and beautiful, that all could see it. She 
drew the line at certain amusements ; thus 
when she united with the Church she gave up 
dancing. A tradition declares that she refused 
even the hand of Washington at a ball ; but 
another affirms not because of religious scru- 
ples, but because she had promised some one 
before him. Her faith was a deep conviction, 
and her conscience was as tender as that of a 
child. This was evident in her feelings when 
attending a ball given at a home in which she 
was a guest. In the conflict of duty between 
courtesy to her host and duty to conscience 
she yielded to her friend's wish and joined in 
the dance, but the remorse following the in- 
dulgence forbade her repeating the pleasure, 
and she ever after refused the amusement. 
She was kind in demeanor, dignified in con- 
duct, and Christly in spirit. She seemed to 
have solved for herself one of the most per- 
plexing questions — what should be a Christian's 
position in the world. It is not the noblest 
faith to flee the world, nor best to hedge the 
soul around with too many prohibitions. Give 
Christ to the human soul and let it judge for 



2 52 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

itself what it shall eat and what it shall not. 
God alone is the law of the conscience, and no 
Church or society should limit its freedom. 
When a Church puts before its members a 
string of prohibitions it reduces the Gospel to 
Judaism. Give affirmations, not negations ; 
yield the truth and it shall make the soul free, 
and it will put on its own restraints. 

Katharine Livingston was an earnest Chris- 
tian. The faith that has no enthusiasm is a 
dead tree. Methodism is a burning truth, and 
every heart fired by the Spirit of God will be 
aggressive ; there will be a constant effort to 
save others. God only converts a man to save 
others. Happiness is secondary, duty is first. 
Early Methodism was running over with en- 
thusiasm ; it was literally God in men, and 
flowed out incessantly in word and deed of 
charity. Silent lips are often vacant hearts. 
The godly women at the beginning of our 
Church were filled with the Holy Spirit, and it 
was manifest. This consecrated woman used 
her influence in the highest places of the nation 
to win souls to Christ ; she was a missionary 
in the higher families of the colonies, making 
her gifts tributary to the Master whom she 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 253 

served. All classes need Christ. Sometimes 
Christians become sectarian in their endeavors. 
There is just as much need of Christ in the 
brown stone house as in the log cabin ; and 
because men are surrounded by wealth it must 
not be accepted that they do not need Christ. 
There is just as golden a harvest in Fifth 
Avenue and Walnut Street as in the courts 
and alleys of our great cities. The gleaner 
will find good wheat among the tares in our 
highest society, and it is just as much the duty 
of the Church to reach the rich as the poor. 
God is no respecter of persons, and he has a 
blessing for the highest as well as the lowest. 
The Gospel calls no man common. It puts a 
premium upon humanity, and values the soul 
of a millionaire as well as that of a pauper. 
Early Methodism in this nation was more ex- 
clusive, socially, than at present. It was more 
conservative in form and reverent in spirit. It 
was more zealous. Without so much ma- 
chinery there was more personal effort ; all 
grades of converts were missionary. Men of 
highest position pleaded for Christ, women of 
honorable estate talked for Jesus. Early Meth- 
odism was aristocratic ; modern, democratic. 



2 54 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

Bishop Asbury was not only aristocratic, but 
he had an influence among the colonists second 
only to Washington. As Stevens, the histo- 
rian, has said, " In most of the provinces he 
seems to have had peculiar success in gather- 
ing about the Methodist standard, in those 
days of its humiliation, devout families of the 
higher classes." He kept in touch with the 
highest social life of the nation ; he shared in 
the leadership of the new republic, and was 
one of the three men whose antecedent work 
made possible democracy upon our shores. 
Professor McCloskie, of Princeton University, 
has justly said : " Gilbert Tennent may be 
named along with George Whitefield, and at a 
later date with Bishop Asbury, as the three 
men who were, above all others, used of God 
for the development of spiritual religion in the 
New World." Asbury lived among the high- 
est; his home in New York was at Judge Liv- 
ingston's or at Governor Van Cortlandt's, whose 
wife he called a " Shunammite indeed ; " his 
home in Delaware was in the house of its most 
distinguished citizen, whom he led to Christ, 
Richard Bassett ; his home in Maryland was 
in the most beautiful country seat in America, 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 255 

Henry Gough's, whom he also led to Christ ; 
his home in Virginia was with General Russell, 
whose wife was a sister of Patrick Henry, and 
himself a warrior of the Revolution ; his home 
in Ohio was in the house of Governor Tiffin, 
its first governor, and his relative, Governor 
Worthington. From the St. Lawrence to the 
Gulf of Mexico this wonderful man journeyed 
and led the leaders of the new republic unto 
Christ. He was capturing the leadership of 
colonial society for Christ, while his followers 
were imparting unto the common people the 
glad message of salvation. No Church had 
such access to the higher life of the nation as 
the society of Wesley. The Anglican colonists 
were a divided camp, or led by men whose dis- 
solute lives made them the synonym of con- 
tempt. In New York the members of the 
Anglican Church were largely Tories, and its 
ministry disloyal to the new republic. Even 
Washington turned aside in those days of 
trial and worshiped with the patriotic Presby- 
terian, whose love of liberty was so blended 
with faith in God that we know not which to 
commend the higher, his devotion to God or 
his love of native land. Asbury w r as the coun- 



256 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

selor of the highest in the nation, and by his 
charm in the home as well as by his eloquence 
in the pulpit he drew the ruling minds of the 
new republic and molded them for Christ. 

Miss Livingston caught the spirit of the 
spiritual leader of the new movement, as As- 
bury frequented her father's house, and his zeal 
magnetic infused itself into her nature, and 
she became missionary. Her faith soon crys- 
tallized in deeds of loving-kindness ; her words 
of truth soon found a lodgment in other hearts, 
and the love of Christ that made her joyous be- 
came the possession of many others. Through 
her the Misses Rutzen, heiresses of great es- 
tates along the Hudson and cf highest lineage, 
were converted, and their wealth increased by 
the abiding riches of His grace. Their money 
and time were given in loving service to the 
infant society, and to-day, in their descendants, 
our Church still shares of their generosity. 

No Church, in the beginning of the repub- 
lic, had more families of highest social stand- 
ing in sympathy with it than Methodism. 
Other Churches were stronger in local prov- 
inces — Congregationalism in New England, 
Anglicanism in the North Atlantic colonies, 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 257 

Presbyterianism in Pennsylvania and New Jer- 
sey — but Methodism touched all parts of the 
united colonies. Methodism at this early day 
had in it the seeds of that wonderful adaptation 
which made it equally acceptable to the cold 
Northerner as well as the burning-hearted 
Southerner ; and it needed only to be pro- 
claimed to be accepted. 

We cannot estimate the value of converted 
leadership in the world, neither can we over- 
estimate its blessings in the Church. The con- 
version of the masses without a spiritual change 
of its leaders will not do. The head, as well as 
the foot, belongs unto God, and the Church 
of Christ must include the service of both. 
Culture, social position, and wealth are all 
treasure-trove to be captured for Christ, and 
the Church that ignores any of them is shorn 
of its power. Who can estimate the worth to 
the Church of such women as Lady Hunting- 
don, Lady Maxwell, and Lady Glenorchy ? 
Their consecration of time and talent gave a 
blessing unto the Anglican, Presbyterian, and 
Methodist Churches that is not exhausted 
even unto to-day. They live, not only by their 
charities that feed the poor and educate the 



258 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

ignorant, but also in their example alluring 
men and women to do noble deeds. God's 
cause demands all hands for work. The Gos- 
pel does not patronize wealth and high lineage, 
but converts their possessors and uses their 
wealth in blessed stewardship for Christ. 

Miss Livingston's position was of the high- 
est. The home of Judge Livingston was 
known and honored all over the colonies as the 
salon where brave and bright men and bril- 
liant and beautiful women gathered. His six 
daughters were all remarkable. They were 
social queens. Wit was their dower and charm, 
and the highest felt honored when they could 
mingle with them. They had no use for stupid 
people. A niece said to Mrs. General Mont- 
gomery, "Aunt, what made you so quiet?" 
She replied, " I cannot endure dull people ;. I 
have not been brought up among them." All 
of these accomplished women lent their influ- 
ence to the new religion, and in turn were in- 
fluenced by it. Providence led them into its 
deep spiritual life that they might be strength- 
ened both to do and to suffer ; for in the near 
future the iron was to pierce their souls, they 
were to endure grave trials, and their homes, 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 259 

now so bright and full of good cheer, were to 
be closed in mourning. 

They were not only passive witnesses of the 
great struggle that rent the colonies'from the 
mother-land, but, sharing their brothers' and 
husbands' love for free America, they also 
shared the cost and sacrifice of the struggle. 
The torch of the foe soon laid in ashes their 
country seat, and the sword soon cut down in 
his prime their brother-in-law, General Rich- 
ard Montgomery. He fell at Quebec, and the 
blow that made his wife a widow sent a thrill 
of sorrow through the whole land ; even his 
foes wept over his bier, and the Governor of 
Quebec buried him with military honors. Ban- 
croft says, " The whole city of Philadelphia was 
in tears ; he was loved of all that knew him ; 
the grief of the nascent republic and eulogies 
of the world." Miss Livingston felt keenly 
the death of her favorite brother-in-law, for she 
knew not how soon other members of her 
family would be sacrificed, as they were in the 
great struggle, some in councils of peace, 
others in conflict upon the field, but sworn to 
throw off the law of Britain that had now be- 
come a yoke. Equal danger confronted her 
13 



260 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

kindred at home and abroad. It required 
boldness to hold to the new faith and new po- 
litical creed. Republicanism and Methodism 
were both unpopular, and both had to conquer 
their place. New York was no more favorable 
to the new faith than to the new union. Op- 
pression in state and intolerance in religion 
went hand in hand. The dominant faith was 
as exacting and narrow as the political power. 
It tolerated no freedom of thought. When 
Makemie, the first Presbyterian missionary, 
preached iri New York it was in the jail. 
When the first Methodist church was built in 
that city its members were compelled to put 
a fireplace in it, or it would have been con- 
demned as a meeting house, and shepherd and 
people would have been put behind the bars. 
This young woman belonged to the patriotic 
class ; she held to the new faith and the new 
political teachings. The leaders of the one and 
of the other both met in her father's house. 
His home was ever opened as well as those of 
his children to that army of Christly men that, 
sweeping, fnlminea legio, all over the land, 
were leading men into a higher liberty, which 
is the basis of all political security ; for moral 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 261 

freedom only makes permanent political free- 
dom. 

Nothing was more beautiful in the higher 
life of the American colonies than its courtly 
hospitality. In nothing was early Methodism 
more winning than in its cordial welcome to 
the servants of God. It was given to hospital- 
ity. - Methodism was a revival of the highest 
type of social life. It not only put an altar 
in the home as well as in the Church, but it 
also brought the priest back to the house. In 
old England the houses of the nobility and 
gentry were open and the prophet's chamber 
dedicated to the use of the servants of God. 
How courtly the hospitality of Lady Maxwell 
of Edinburgh, a follower of Wesley, but dis- 
pensing her good cheer to Presbyterian and 
Anglican, as well as those of her own society. 
Mrs. Fletcher called Cross Hall an inn, and it 
was rarely without the itinerant who counseled 
with that holy woman about the spread of 
God's work. Lady Huntingdon would always 
open her London house or country homes to 
make glad the coming of the prophet's feet. 
The new religion won its way in the home ; 
for the presence of men like the scholarly 



262 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

Wesley and sainted Coke must ever draw men 
to Christ. To be familiar with such men 
would be to draw nearer to Christ. Famil- 
iarity may breed contempt of unworthy men, 
but as the hearts of the disciples were burned 
by the presence of Christ, so to-day the com- 
panionship of God's servants must lead men 
nearer to Christ. Early Methodism caught 
the spirit of the English disciples, and wher- 
ever it was planted its adherents were not 
forgetful to entertain strangers and friends. 
Almost every home had its " prophet's cham- 
ber," from the courtly house of the man of 
wealth in the East to the pioneer's cabin in 
the new West. 

In New York, Governor Van Cortlandt, in- 
heriting a large estate, dispensed a prodigal 
hospitality. Washington, Lafayette, Franklin, 
and others eminent in the nation enjoyed his 
courtesy, but none were more welcome than 
Bishop Asbury and his coadjutors. He enter- 
tained over a hundred guests at a time. " His 
heart," said Father Boehm, " was as large as 
his mansion." Elected eighteen times Lieuten- 
ant Governor of New York, political preferment 
never changed his kindly heart. Tall and com- 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 263 

manding, he stood with Joanna Livingston, his 
wife, the friend of Methodism, building a chapel 
and worshiping at its altar for almost a cen- 
tury, honored of the State and beloved of the 
Church. Cortlandt Manor vied with the elegant 
homes of Judge Livingston and his children in 
providing a sweet rest for the wearied itiner- 
ants as they traveled the Atlantic coast to 
plant the new Church. In Cranston, R. I., 
General Lippett welcomed them and built a 
chapel. His large house, " with its fifteen 
spare beds," was ever open unto them. At a 
later date in Lyons, western New York, Mrs. 
Judge Dorsey entertained the Genesee Confer- 
ence three times in her own house. She was 
an evangelist in working for Christ and a Shu- 
nammite in her reception of his servants. In 
the new West we see the same spirit. Men felt 
honored in having these men as their guests, 
for they knew the coming of their feet brought 
only blessing, and gladly prepared " the little 
chamber on the wall, and set there a bed, a 
table, a stool, and a candlestick," that when 
they came they could find a home. The high- 
est felt grieved when their hospitality was 
not accepted. President W. H. Harrison only 



264 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

expressed the value of the itinerant when he 
said to Gaddis : " You have been in our neigh- 
borhood two or three times, and yet you have 
never called to see me. Now, you know that 
when men get old they do not like to be neg- 
lected. I have always kept a ' prophet's cham- 
ber on the wall,' especially for the itinerants on 
North Bend Circuit, and I often wonder why 
you do not call at my cabin." Gaddis replied, 
" General, you were mistaken in the person." 
Harrison gave him a second look and said : " I 

beg pardon ; I thought it was Mr. H -, the 

junior preacher on the circuit. Well, I hope 
you will give him my kind regards, and tell 
him I shall expect a visit from him soon." 
The early itinerants, while cordially detested by 
evil doers, were most highly esteemed by those 
who knew them, and created a love for the 
ministry that failed not even at death. 

Nothing more beautifully reveals the esti- 
mate of God's servant in the home than these 
words of a dying father: " My son, I believe I 
am going to heaven, but I cannot leave the 
world in peace unless you will make me two 
promises. My house, you know, has always 
been a home to Methodist preachers, and the 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 265 

first thing I wish you to promise is that you 
will take care of them as I have done." The 
highest doors of the nation swung open to these 
servants of the cross, and the noblest men and 
women gladly received them. 

In Delaware the three homes of its most 
honored citizen, Hon. Richard Bassett — his 
home in Dover, in Wilmington, and at Bohe- 
mia Manor — were the welcome retreat for all 
who loved God. The last place is historic in 
the history of Methodism. Here lived one of 
the most eminent men of the republic, one of 
the signers of the Constitution, a distinguished 
lawyer whose ability seems transmitted unto 
his descendants, the Bayard family of to-day. 
Richard Bassett dispensed a baronial hospital- 
ity. His farm of six thousand acres yielded 
an abundance for high and low, for host and 
guest. Honored in State, he was more hon- 
ored in Church, and his name will be remem- 
bered as long as Methodism exists. Converted 
under Bishop Asbury, he threw the might of 
his social influence in favor of the struggling 
society. His spacious home was the resting- 
place of the itinerant. His great gifts were 
not only given to the State as one of the 



266 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

makers of the republic, but also to the Church 
he loved. To his legal ability was added an 
experimental knowledge of Christ that made 
him a local preacher of eloquence and power. 
Beautiful was the kindness of this man to the 
wearied itinerants, who without scrip or purse 
pushed through forest and swamp to preach 
Christ. He knew their value and sacrifice, 
and encouraged the strong, and made comfort- 
able the declining age of others. Who will 
deny that in the honor and exaltation of his 
children's children the kindness of Richard 
Bassett to God's servants has been a blessing 
unto them ? His homes were all sacred to the 
servants of God, and he was blessed. He and 
his wife Ann lived Methodism in the highest 
social life of the nation, and if the creed of 
Wesley has changed the peninsula of Dela^ 
ware and Maryland and Virginia, transform- 
ing the malarial swamps and wild forests, 
and making them blossom as the rose ; if the 
chapel has been planted at almost every cross, 
road and village, and a beautiful and pure life 
been developed by the itinerant ; if the high- 
est social life still finds a satisfaction at the 
altar of Methodism, and controls and beauti- 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 267 

fies the whole social fabric, much credit must 
be given to this great man whose heart and 
intellect, controlled by its teachings, made his 
position its shield, and his gifts its service. 
No nobler man in colonial days brought bet- 
ter offerings to the new faith than the total 
abstainer Richard Bassett, governor, United 
States senator, United States judge, and signer 
of the Constitution. 

Bohemia Manor had its rival in Maryland 
in the home of Harry Gough, who, marrying 
a daughter of Governor Ridgely, was the 
owner of one of its most extensive estates. 
Perry Hall is one of the historic names of 
Methodism. Coke called it "the most beauti- 
ful place in Maryland ; " while Black, the mis- 
sionary of Nova Scotia, named it " the most 
elegant country seat in America." It was sit- 
uated fifteen miles from Baltimore. Its owner 
was wealthy, his possessions running into hun- 
dreds of thousands. It was the center of Mary- 
land's wealth and refinement, and hither as- 
sembled the elite of Southern society, as that of 
the North gathered at Livingston Manor. A 
feudal retinue of a hundred servants did the 
bidding of its chief and Prudence, his beauti- 



268 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

ful and accomplished wife. Its spacious house 
and beautiful grounds were always open, and 
a true Southern hospitality dispensed by this 
kindly-hearted man and his Christian wife. 
Methodism soon entered here in the ministry 
of its first American bishop, and found in Harry 
and Prudence Gough its most ardent friends, 
and in their home a genuine welcome. Relig- 
ion took a deep root in the heart of Mrs. 
Gough, while her husband, struggling with the 
customs of a worldly society, sometimes con- 
quered and sometimes was overcome. They 
carried their new faith into their home. A 
church was built on the estate, and here the 
head of the family, in patriarchal form, led his 
household in worship. Here assembled every 
morning all who shared the bounty of that gen- 
erous home, while the humblest servant as well 
as the most honored guest was privileged to 
share the devotions of the hour. The distinc- 
tions of Lady Huntingdon's home and Cross 
Hall in England were laid aside, and there was 
no separate service in parlor and kitchen. In 
the plain stone chapel all members of the 
household gathered around one common mercy- 
seat, and the head of the house was the priest 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 269 

of God. At Christmas, in 1874, in Perry Hall, 
the most elegant home in the colonies, began 
an organization that, completed on Christmas 
Eve, gave to the New World the Methodist 
Episcopal Church ; a gift to America that, 
bringing peace and joy, was but the Gospel 
again repeated that came to the world over 
eighteen hundred years ago at Bethlehem. 

The founders of American Methodism rep- 
resented the best culture and social life of their 
age. Coke, its first bishop, was said " by the 
first scholars to have spoken the purest English 
they had ever heard." He bore the badge of 
a doctor of law from Oxford, England's oldest 
university, but did not wear, like later bishops, 
his scarf to publish his title. Garrettson and 
Lee carried over into the new Church the cav- 
alier spirit of the society in which they had 
been reared, and, whether traveling with their 
valet, like the gentlemen of their time, or push- 
ing alone through forest and mountain, the 
stamp was on them, and they always found 
recognition. The character of the young men 
who formed the Christmas Conference was 
apostolic ; many of them read their Bible 
'• through each year on bended knee," and all 



270 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

were heroic in love and sacrifice. The last 
of that noble brotherhood, Thomas Ware, 
has left this sketch of that council. " I have 
often said it was the most solemn convocation 
I ever saw. During the whole time of our 
being together in the transaction of business 
of the utmost magnitude there was not, I 
verily believe, on the Conference floor or in pri- 
vate, an unkind word spoken or an unbrotherly 
emotion felt. Christian love predominated ; 
and under its influence 'we kindly thought 
and sweetly spoke the same.' ' 

Never came together a holier band than that 
Conference of sixty young men to form another 
branch of the Christian Church. With high 
spirit the noblest sons of the cavaliers are try- 
ing with the lowliest of God's messengers to 
build up his Church. There is the planter's 
son, having set his slaves free that he might 
preach more efficiently the free salvation of 
Christ, and willingly surrendering the home 
of ease for the saddlebags of the itinerant. 
There are the soldiers of the Revolution, 
now enlisted in a holier war. Northerner and 
Southerner, Englishman and American, are 
all there, and the spirit of Pentecost is their 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 27 1 

baptism as they unite to conquer a new world 
for Christ. 

There is Francis Asbury, a young man soon 
to be ordained by human hands to the high 
office of episcopacy, and prove by his apos- 
tolic sacrifice the validity of the anointing of 
the Holy Ghost, which alone makes an apos- 
tolic successor. There is Freeborn Garrettson, 
" Coke's arrow," who, obedient to his sum- 
mons, hastened on horseback, over marsh and 
through forest and mountain, to call the young 
itinerants to council at Baltimore. There are 
gathered at Lovely Lane meeting house repre- 
sentatives of America's bravest and most hon- 
ored families to witness the formation of a free 
Church in a free State ; one destined to show to 
the older communions that the Church of Christ 
needs no alliance with Caesar, either to rule it 
as Rome or be ruled by it as England. 

To Perry Hall came Coke and Asbury to 
frame the form of the new Church of the repub- 
lic, and under its hospitable roof they, with 
scores of itinerants, tarried to bring some new 
gift to establish the people of God, for that home 
was not only noted for a courtly hospitality, 
but for hallowed converse and Christly service. 



272 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

Harry Gough was devoted, and at times occu- 
pied the pulpit as a local preacher. His wife 
wore plain gowns that were in vogue in the 
highest circles. In her lofty position she would 
lead in worship like the eminent women of 
England who went into the new movement 
called Methodism. After her husband's death 
we can see her standing in the chapel reading 
God's word before a hundred people, and then 
leading them in prayer. Not more beautiful 
the social life than the spiritual life of Method- 
ism in the early days. Their only daughter 
was converted while singing at the piano, 
" Come, thou Fount of every blessing," and, 
running to tell her parents, the mother wept 
in joy and the father shouted aloud, that the 
promise of the Spirit had been given unto their 
child. The father wrote to Garrettson, to 
whom Miss Livingston was married, " I am, 
through unbounded mercy, filled with the love 
of God, and Sophy, my dear Sophy, whom 
you call the child of my affections, has a living 
faith in Christ ; in short, Perry Hall is like a 
little heaven below." Asbury was at Perry 
Hall when his friend whom he had led to Christ 
was called hence, and, conducting the last sad 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 2/3 

offices, the General Conference in session in the 
city of Baltimore adjourned, and the whole 
body followed in procession the body of Harry 
Gough to the edge of the city, as a tribute to 
the man of highest social life and greatest 
wealth who allied himself to the standard of 
their faith. The marriage of the only child 
to Mr. Carroll united one of the most prom- 
inent Methodist families of the colonies to the 
most distinguished Catholic family of America, 
the Carrolls of Carrollton ; but this branch, 
following the faith of the devoted wife, con- 
tinued members of the Methodist Church, and 
represented in their piety, wealth, and benevo- 
lence the same spirit of Christ that was found 
in their ancestry. 

Cortlandt Manor, Rhinebeck, Bohemia Man- 
or, and Perry Hall are four names that enshrine 
much that was best in our colonial life. They 
recall the names of those who rendered diligent 
service to the new republic, and are fragrant 
with most hallowed traditions of native land. 
But they also recall names still more devoted 
in the service of Christ, and are redolent of 
memories of affection and sacrifice for our 
revered Church that will not die. 



274 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

In the genesis of the new Church that was 
belting already the New World in its itiner- 
ancy, there were the highest elements of earthly 
power baptized by the Spirit of God. The 
men that came out of the Established Church 
to rear a new communion on these western 
shores were the peers of any pioneers of the 
world's reformers, and the laity that mingled 
at her altars in the beginning were the flower 
of America's best society. Methodism con- 
trolled, in its beginning, many of the most 
noted families of the republic, as it does at 
this hour. The idea that American Method- 
ism came up from below is utterly false. It is 
not higher socially to-day than it was a hundred 
years ago. Because the earlier Methodists were 
ostracized and persecuted it does not follow 
that they were worthy of stones, but just the 
opposite. Because a Church does not always 
point to its escutcheon it does not prove that 
it has none. Men that always parade their 
ancestry are usually those that have none, or 
have them buried under ground. Churches 
boasting most of catholicity are most intoler- 
ant ; and those who talk most loudly of apos- 
tolic descent are usually without apostolic 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 2/5 

fruit. The organizers of the Church, Bancroft 
tells us, were mostly young men ; but they 
were the choice spirits of many honored fami- 
lies, and were as brave and courteous as any 
knights that ever cast a lance in the crusade 
of Christ — not only of the best family, but of 
best behavior. The sneer against their rude- 
ness was as false as that against their training. 
They were a courtly class of men, and would 
grace, like their comrades across the sea, the 
parlor of the city and the cabin of the forest. 
Possibly our earliest bishops were too dignified 
and exclusive ; but the stately worship of 
Coke, reading his prayers in a Geneva gown, is 
preferable to the irreverent service called old- 
fashioned Methodism. Asbury, "unwilling to 
baptize even a baby without putting his gown 
on," may seem too formal for our democratic 
notion of worship, but infinitely better the 
book and the gown than the presumption of 
worship that is manifest to-day in some Meth- 
odist pulpits. Methodism was a revival in 
" gown and bands," and the beautiful liturgy 
of the mother-Church, rendered by godly min- 
isters, and the burning sermon following, held 

the children of the English Church, and gave 
19 



276 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

Methodism an easy conquest where the Estab- 
lished Church had fled the field. The early- 
itinerants were not only strong in the pulpit, 
but winning in the home. They were not 
giants in the pulpit that needed to be corraled 
during the week to prevent them neutralizing 
the Gospel they preached. The grace of God 
was a refining fire, purifying the heart and 
burning out the dross of impure speech. Holi- 
ness means clean hands, clean lips, and clean 
hearts. They were strong ; the lion in their 
nature making them fearless to speak the truth, 
and the lamb in them gentle to utter it in love. 
They conquered as much in the home by their 
gentility and grace as in the pulpit by their 
winged words of Gospel truth. Politeness and 
charity were the badges of their profession, 
good form united to good religion. They were 
brave men giving their lives unto Christ ; and 
the brave heart is ever the gentle heart. 
Rudeness was unpardonable, and uncouthness 
a sin. Bishops won many of high position by 
personal intercourse. The best fruit was chosen 
in this way. Governor Bassett was visiting 
Judge White at Dover, Delaware, and seeing 
several strangers in an adjoining room he said 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 2JJ 

to his hostess, "Who are these men?" 
" Methodist preachers," she replied. " O, then 
I can't stay here to-night," and demanded his 
horses to be bridled ; but Mrs. White per- 
suaded him to remain. He met Bishop 
Asbury, invited him to be his guest, and, to 
his surprise, he accepted the invitation. He 
and his wife were converted and became the 
bishop's most steadfast friends. The home 
became the vantage ground for the convert in 
honorable estate, and many were the men of 
note that were drawn to Christ. 

Many were the advantages that came to the 
early Church of the republic by the accession 
of these leading families. Their position was 
a shield when the itinerant's life was in peril. 
Their acceptance of the new faith caused men 
to think, and disarmed them of prejudice. The 
fruit of holy living in the higher walks of life 
unconsciously drew to it many of the leaders 
of the republic. 

There is a natural leadership which comes 
of wealth and training, and God used these in 
planting the Church along the Atlantic coast 
and in the new West. It was a Providence 
that captured these centers of power for our 



278 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

revered Church. They were fortresses of 
greatest strength conquered for Christ. A 
class Church, high or low, is an abomination 
to God. Churches for the masses, or mission 
churches, or people's churches, are all contrary 
to the spirit of the Gospel, which knows no 
man after the flesh. The Church of Christ is a 
seamless garment, God's raiment of holiness 
to make beautiful all his children, and woe 
unto the men who rend it ! Methodism has 
solved the problem of holding both the rich 
and poor within its fold. It began with the 
natural leaders of society and has worked on 
these lines ever since. It has no special min- 
istries. It is catholic in doctrine and catholic 
in practice. It gives a glad welcome to the 
Lazarus lying poor, diseased, at the gate, and 
also to a Joseph of Arimathea of professional 
estate. Methodism, pioneer in giving the Gos- 
pel, is not a pioneer only. It has a message 
for the hunter in the forest, for the slave in the 
cabin, and for the scholar in the college. 
Among its noblest trophies were those con- 
verted in the most aristocratic circles of colo- 
nial times. Without compromise or concession 
it brought the highest to an acceptance of its 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 279 

doctrines, which were as clearly illustrated in 
the piety and service of the high-born as in 
the reverent service of the lowly. In no sta- 
tion of life do we see the beauty of holiness 
more radiant than in these leading homes of 
the colonies. We look in vain to find rarer 
Christian virtues than among these leading 
men of the new republic and these women 
ruling society by their wealth, culture, and po- 
sition. The pure word of God mixed with 
faith was preached, and one result appeared 
in mistress and servant. As, when Paul 
preached at Rome, the Gospel, touching the 
oppressed classes, also made converts in Cae- 
sar's household, so the glad tidings preached 
in America produced the same fruit. Had it 
not found an entrance into all hearts it would 
not have been of God. Christ testified against 
caste in religion. Christianity is democratic 
in spirit, and the republic of God includes all 
men. Men that would teach Methodism as a 
class faith are false to their commissions as 
Wesleyans, or as servants of Christ. When a 
man holds his Church to be only a hewer of 
wood and a drawer of water he degrades it, and 
his work is done. The neglect of the higher 



280 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

classes by some of our clergy is a sin against 
God. The tendency to make of our honored 
Church, which has clearer notes of a true 
Church than any other, a sect should be op- 
posed by every holy endeavor. In some sec- 
tions we have been provincial in our service, 
and have given those in life's more favored 
stations to understand our pews were not for 
their presence. Father Boehm has well ob- 
served : " Some have entertained the idea that 
Methodism was adapted only for the low and 
the ignorant, for the common people ; but this 
is a mistake. In its early days in America 
some of the loftiest families embraced it with 
joy." Early Methodism, rich in bounty to the 
poor, had a place also for the well-born, the 
cultivated, and wealthy. All property is not 
theft, and all poverty is not a virtue. Meth- 
odist laymen by honest efforts made large 
fortunes, or inherited them. An increase of 
wealth only broadened the sense of steward- 
ship. 

Methodist laymen have held highest po- 
sitions of trust from the days of Van Cort- 
landt, Bassett, and Russell, and have honored 
God in high places. These and others were 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 28 1 

among the makers of the republic, and their 
patriotism in council and war was only equaled 
by their holiness in character and earnestness 
in God's service. Miss Livingston's home was 
famed for its hospitality. A house of many 
mansions overlooking the Hudson, it also had 
its prophet's chamber, in which the prophet 
of God was always welcome. Margaret Beek- 
man, her mother, of proudest lineage among 
the old patroon families, presiding over one 
of the best homes of the colonies, was one of 
the first to welcome the itinerants to her hos- 
pitable board, and among her most devoted 
friends was Francis Asbury, who, a frequent 
guest, brought grace and benediction wher- 
ever he entered. His allusions to his visits to 
the Livingstons are frequent in his journal. 
Referring to her death, he writes : " I visited 
her one year before her death, and spent a 
night at her mansion. She was sensible, con- 
versable, and hospitable." 

Among the itinerants that were introduced 
to that beautiful home was the missionary Free- 
born Garrettson, a native of Maryland, a gen- 
tleman of good family and fortune, who, being 
converted, manumitted his slaves and became 



282 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

an evangelist. He laid the foundations of 
Methodism in Nova Scotia and planted the 
Church in the wilderness. In journeying from 
the Carolinas to Nova Scotia he stopped at 
Dr. Tillottson's, who had married a Miss Liv- 
ingston. His introduction to this family led 
to an acquaintance with Katharine, and, as 
Walpole said of Lady Margaret Hastings's 
marriage with the scholarly and saintly 
Ingham, " she threw herself away on a poor 
Methodist preacher." Her marriage was not 
a sacrifice in social position, for since the be- 
ginning of the new movement it has drawn 
unto its ranks the highest and humblest. From 
the days of Fletcher, Shirley, and Madan, of 
noble birth and antecedents, and from those 
of Garrettson, men and women of highest 
family have entered our ministry. To-day in 
our own country the children of presidents, 
governors, and judges are found in the minis- 
try, and their devotion is not surpassed by 
those of humbler birth. 

Miss Livingston's marriage was a happy 
union, although it had its long years of sacrifice 
and separation. She married an itinerant, but 
he did not cease from his ministry. They each 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 283 

had means to build a home and enjoy private 
life ; but this man remained in the saddle and 
she remained at the home. We would say it 
evinced rare love and heroism for a young 
woman of her position to consent to a union 
with a man whose presence at home must be 
like angels' visits, few and far between. The 
itinerancy a century ago was not the pleasant 
pastorate of this age. There were but few 
churches and no parsonages. The itinerancy 
meant long journeys and many privations, and 
men, when marrying, generally located. But 
Garrettson counted the cost. He was worthy 
of her ; he had the soldier's spirit that filled 
her heart. If she was a heroine in accepting 
her choice, he was a hero in the sublimest 
moral strife. While Miss Livingston's broth- 
ers and family were busy in forming laws for 
the new republic — some by legislation giving 
security, and others by the sword keeping lib- 
erty — he was forging elements still stronger to 
bind the colonies together. While they were 
binding together the scattered colonies into a 
new political compact, he was uniting the frag- 
ment societies of the English Church into a 
new communion ; for the Declaration of Inde- 



284 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

pendence not only separated the colonies 
from the mother-State, but also dissolved the 
Churches of the Establishment in the new 
country. They were building up a free State 
in a new land, and he a free Church in a free 
republic. As Bancroft says, " The acknowl- 
edged independence of the United States 
called suddenly into a like independence a 
new Episcopal Church, destined to spread its 
branches far and wide over the land with as- 
tonishing rapidity." Men that drew the sword 
and signed the Declaration and signed the 
Constitution were among the leaders who 
formed the first Episcopal Church of the re- 
public. There is more than a coincidence in 
the contemporary rise of Methodism with the 
new nation. There was a preparation of prov- 
idence in the leadership of both. In the disso- 
lution of the Anglican Church were found the 
elements of power that were in the near future 
to be crystallized into a new ecclesiastical body 
— a native Church without foreign domination ; 
an Episcopal Church without State alliance ; a 
ministry without prelacy ; a liturgy without 
sacerdotalism ; and a Gospel without limita- 
tion. The framers of the new democracy were 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 285 

giants ; they knew what they meant, but they 
builded more wisely than they knew. No 
perils intimidated them though they knew 
their danger. Defeat meant death. As Han- 
cock said, " If we do not hang together we 
shall hang apart." So of these men sweeping 
over the battlefield, forest, and mountain; 
they were making possible a political union by 
their work, for in every converted man there 
was the pledge of a law-abiding citizen. The 
union would have been a rope of sand if men 
had not been united to a higher power. Hate 
of England was not sufficient ; the heresy of 
Puritan and Cavalier, of Presbyterian and Lu- 
theran, was not sufficient ; but the wave of 
revival sweeping along the Atlantic coast cre- 
ated by these uhlans of the Church militant 
prepared men for political rule ; for self rule is 
the beginning of all power. Spiritual control 
gives political stability. Historians are begin- 
ning to recognize the power of this spiritual 
movement in the nation which converted the 
lawless soldier into a law-abiding citizen ; that 
transformed the central West and South from 
a retreat of irreligious men into a compact of 
sturdy and manly followers of Christ. 



286 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

Freeborn Garrettson was a hero in that 
harder battle, and never did knight of chivalry 
bring braver heart to God's service than the 
devout man who won the hand and heart of 
Miss Livingston. The story of his conversion 
recalls that of Saul, the young Cilician, for he, 
too, was arrested on horseback and in a mo- 
ment led into the truth. He was converted in 
the saddle, and for fifty-three years continued 
a traveling preacher. The Christian Church 
has had but few men that have surpassed this 
noble man. He was called Coke's arrow from 
the speed with which he rode over our coun- 
try, calling men to the Conference that formed 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. He says : 
" My dear Master enabled me to ride twelve 
hundred miles in six weeks and to preach, go- 
ing and coming, constantly." We follow his 
travels with wonder. He would ride fifty miles 
a day and preach four times ; would ride five 
thousand miles in a year. The mist is gath- 
ering over the makers of the new Church of 
the republic ; but let us brush it away for 
a moment and contemplate the heroism of 
these men, and we shall see Edwin Arnold's 
words fulfilled : 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 2S7 

" Peace hath her battlefields, where they who fight 
Win more than honor, vanquish more than might, 
And strive a strife against a fiercer foe 
Than one who comes with battle-ax and bow." 



See Thomas Coke, our first bishop, a man 
of independent fortune, crossing the Atlantic 
twenty times in missionary zeal ; threading 
the forests of America, undaunted by disease, 
storm, and persecution ; pouring out fifty thou- 
sand dollars for the cause he loved ; and at 
last, in age, braving again the tempestuous 
sea to find a grave in the coral groves of the 
Indian Ocean, whose waters in ceaseless ca- 
dence murmur his requiem over the land he 
loved. See Freeborn Garrettson, a man of 
fortune also, when converted setting his slaves 
free, and without any salary traveling from 
Nova Scotia to the Carolinas simply to tell the 
story of Jesus. Hear from his own lips the 
story of that Pauline ministry : " I have trav- 
ersed the mountains and valleys frequently on 
foot, with my knapsack on my back, guided by 
Indian paths in the wilderness when it was not 
expedient for me to take a horse. I had often 
to wade through morasses half-leg deep in 
mud and water, frequently satisfying my hun- 



238 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

ger with a piece of bread and pork from my 
knapsack, quenching my thirst from a brook, 
and resting my weary limbs on the leaves of 
the trees." 

He had wealth and social position, but all 
were counted but dross so that he might 
save souls. How ignoble the souls that live 
only to seek the best pulpits, and make mer- 
chandise of their gifts to the highest bidder, 
compared to this man who wrought years 
without even a penny for his hire ! How sinks 
the professional preacher before this man 
called of God, and asking only for the privilege 
of saving men ! Can that pattern ever be 
duplicated, or can we ever return from self- 
seeking men to self-denying evangelists? We 
know not the sacrifices of the early pioneers 
of the Church. They sowed in tears, we reap 
in joy ; they created the beautiful heritage 
that has rejoiced every Protestant Church. 
The perils and difficulties seem insurmount- 
able. What are our Botany Bays to the 
malarial regions where they tarried to save 
men ? W T e pause over the work of our fathers ; 
they were heroes of the finest type, prepared 
for any sacrifice or toil; they showed rarest 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 289 

courage in facing angry mobs, wild Indians, 
and wilder beasts. 

Colonial life was not as dissolute as society 
in the United Kingdom, but it was meager in 
the virtues that make up a well-regulated state. 
Church and State were united in New York, 
Maryland, and Virginia, while in New England, 
though the Church was dominant, vital piety 
was rare and saints were scarce. In New Eng- 
land Puritanism had gone to seed, the fruit 
decayed, and only the barren shell remained. 
The social life was at the lowest. The Church 
had a name, but no power to reform. Skepti- 
cism in thought and immorality in conduct 
were everywhere. The colonial clergymen 
were no credit to their calling ; they were 
winebibbers, and ministered in drunkenness 
at the altars of God. Imagine a funeral of a 
New England clergyman with this account ren- 
dered : "Fifty-one gallons of best wine con- 
sumed by the mourners ; " of another at which 
"one barrel of wine and two barrels of cider 
were drunk." In the Southern States church 
discipline was lost, and often the men who 
ministered at the altar in holy things were the 
most dissolute. McConnell's History of the 



29O METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

Protestant Episcopal Church describes the spir- 
itual life of all. Imagine the morality of Yale 
College when David Brainerd, the sainted 
Presbyterian, was expelled because he attended 
a prayer meeting ; or of Harvard protesting 
against Whitefield because he preached with- 
out paper. 

A knowledge of the spiritual leaders easily 
reveals the character of the people, and the 
reception that would be given to a spiritual 
religion. It required brave men to preach a 
pure religion, and strong men to endure the 
fatigue of constant travel. The itinerants 
would preach and thousands would fill the for- 
est to hear the word of God, they would send 
out bullets of truth, and men would fall as in 
battle. Evil men would band in unholy com- 
pact to kill the man of God. 

Garrettson's life was in constant peril ; he was 
stoned, beaten, and fired at. Poison was pre- 
pared for him, and violence poured out upon 
him. In Maryland, his native State, he was 
knocked down senseless in the highway, and a 
woman passing by picked up the form and bore 
it to her home. His assailants, after the deed, 
were stricken with remorse, deeming him dead, 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 29 1 

and when he came to consciousness his foes 
are bowed around him in tears, praying God 
to forgive them. He was imprisoned in Cam- 
bridge jail for two weeks ; the damp floor his 
bed, and his knapsack his pillow. Cruel of- 
ficers led him with a rope around his neck like 
the most abandoned outlaw. His persecutors 
were leading men, and his friends were the first 
and bravest of the community; but they were 
impotent to save him. Once a bully's blow 
laid him senseless at the feet of his friend, a 
veteran colonel of the Revolution, when the 
old soldier smote the coward and he lay on 
the ground. But how Christly Garrettson's 
conduct ! He reproved, in tears, his friend 
that he should have used unhallowed force to 
protect him. He was made a spectacle in the 
world, and, like Paul, the Gentile Church's 
great evangel, could say, " Being reviled, we 
bless ; being persecuted, we suffer it ; being 
defamed, we entreat ; we are made as the filth 
of the world, and are the ofifscouring of all 
things." Methodism was not easily planted 
in America. The offense of the cross was as 
grievous in the colonies as in England, and they 

who would preach the new faith had to con- 
20 



292 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

tend against even greater foes ; for the social 
life had besetments on all sides. Slavery ex- 
isted from New England to Georgia, but every 
Methodist preacher was an abolitionist. Wes- 
ley called the institution blighting the colonial 
life " the sum of all villainies ;" and Coke and 
all others preached against it. They protested 
before legislatures ; they pleaded with Wash- 
ington and other leaders ; they assailed it in 
sermons when thousands filled the forests to 
hear them. They were cursed, beaten, and 
imprisoned ; but they would not hush their 
protest. Methodism began her crusade in the 
New World pleading for human rights, and if 
Washington and his associates had heeded 
her council the sad and awful tragedy of '61 
would have been averted. The progress of 
Methodism is a marvel when the difficulties 
are estimated. Who can describe them ? In 
many of the States the Churches were estab- 
lished by law, and to preach was a criminal 
offense. Asbury preached near Baltimore, and 
he was fined twenty-five dollars. He only re- 
ceived a salary of thirty, so you can see what 
his sermon cost him. The spirit of intolerance 
was as fierce in America as in England, and 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 293 

lawful and lawless men, Churchmen and row- 
dies, all united to stamp out the new heresy 
that dared to call slavery a crime against God, 
drunkenness as unchristian, and to say that 
only Christ and not Church and sacrament 
can save. 

The itinerants would travel over the new 
country, enduring fatigues of journey, perils 
of malaria, fording stream and crossing moun- 
tain. The sacrifices of the soldiers of the 
Revolution are but the deprivations of a 
few days compared with the lifelong hard- 
ships of Garrettson and his associates. Bishop 
Asbury crossed the Alleghanies sixty times. 
He often camped after a day's journey sick 
and hungry, with the damp frozen earth for 
his bed and a w r et blanket for his covering. 
Even this often was denied as in the forest 
he stood sentinel, watching the Indian and 
wild beast that were following his footsteps. 
Following the bridle path, or blazing their way 
through virgin forests, those heroes pushed 
forward— to-day in the far-off forests of Nova 
Scotia or the Canadas, to-morrow in the capi- 
tal centers of the colonies, preaching Christ to 
those ruling in authority, and again down in 



294 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

the rice fields of the Southland, or in the sparse 
settled West, telling the story of Jesus. Now 
thousands throng the forest, and the woods 
resound with their voices of pleading ; now 
the illiterate slave hears of the highest salva- 
tion that makes him more willing to endure 
his earthly servitude ; now, in the Indian camp, 
the red man learns of Christ, the Great Spirit, 
whom he has ignorantly worshiped. On the 
Atlantic coast, beyond the Alleghanies, beyond 
the frontier forests, into the open prairie where 
the bravest pioneer plants his cabin, is the 
itinerant to give the word of God. Armed 
with his gun to protect his life against panther, 
wolf, and bear, he is armed with the word of 
God, the sword of the Spirit, to slay and make 
alive. He shares the 'menu of the forest home, 
eating with equal gladness the 'possum meat, 
bear and venison, and chestnut and corn bread 
of the pioneer, or the table prepared in the 
city laden with choicest food. He follows 
after men, and the cottage in the wilderness is 
scarcely finished before along comes the cir- 
cuit rider — his knapsack his library — carrying 
God's word, and his heart aflame with its pre- 
cious truths. Strong men counsel against him 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 295 

and he is beaten ; the wild Indian steals along 
his path, and the bleached form in the forest 
tells of the sacrifice even unto death. Hungry, 
the denizens of the forest assail, and he fights 
like Paul with beasts at Ephesus ; the poison- 
ous malaria smites and deadly fever strives 
until, like Nolly, the itinerant dismounts, and 
on bended knee commends his wearied soul to 
God, while his faithful horse looks down with 
the vigil stars upon the form in death of one 
of earth's noblest heroes. No pen can write 
the life story of the young men that planted 
American Methodism ; for truth is stranger 
than fiction, and their history a romance of 
real life that finds but few equals. They had 
no Church but the private house or the field 
or forest whose sapphire dome was lit by taper 
stars, or made golden with the sheen of the 
day-star. They found a welcome and an audi- 
ence in God's earlier house of worship ; for 

"The groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned 

To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave, 

And spread the roof above them ; ere he framed 

The lofty vault to gather and roll back 

The sound of anthems." 

As Bancroft has truly said : " They had de- 
light in the beauties of nature, and knew how 



296 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

to extract from them all the sweetness they 
are capable of yielding. They stood in the 
mountain forests of the Alleghanies and in the 
plains beyond them, ready to kindle in emi- 
grants who might come without hymn book 
or Bible their own vivid sense of religion." 

Methodism loves nature, and ever gladly 
worships in the temple grove. Hebraic in fire 
and spirit, it loves the annual feast of taber- 
nacles, and in its early camp meetings wor- 
shiped God and received his tenderest bene- 
diction. Methodism owes to the camp meet- 
ing its mightiest victories in the early days. 
It won its noblest victory in that form of wor- 
ship. We read of converts added to the Church 
by thousands and tens of thousands. Pente- 
cost was literally repeated in the preaching of 
our fathers in the wilderness ; and our Church 
should not abandon a service that God has so 
wonderfully honored, and that was the most 
potent agency in building it up to its present 
strength and beauty. Mercantilism, the curse 
of America, should be rebuked. We do not 
want the worshipers of the golden calf to 
create our places for the worship of God, and 
then quote his precious word, " The earth is the 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 297 

Lord's," and beneath the sacred motto place, 
" Lots two hundred and fifty dollars ; " nor set 
apart a place in the grove for a free Gospel, 
" without money and without price," and then 
have the successors of Judas demand a silver 
offering at the gate. Methodism must not 
forsake its first temple. The whole trend of 
social life in summer is back to the country, 
and the multiplied homes must be followed by 
a return to this most blessed service. 

What would the sainted Garrettson think of 
a meeting managed by saints whose highest 
aim was not to get a dividend in souls, but in 
gold ! Would he not, like his Master in the 
temple built by man's device, turn out the rec- 
reant stewards and drive them, like him, from 
the sacred place ? 

The early itinerants were men of loftiest 
courage and rarest devotion. As much hero- 
ism was displayed by them in facing the mobs 
of lawless men, wild savages, and wild beasts 
as was ever manifest on the field of battle ; and 
as marvelous victories were gained in these 
moral battles as in the physical strife. They 
would preach in the forests and courthouses 
and on the commons, and whole regions would 



298 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

assemble to hear the word of God. The 
sword of the Spirit would cut, and men and 
women would fall as dead. Science has not 
found out the secret power that made their 
words pierce like bullets, and lay myriads on the 
ground senseless, or shake their frames like an 
aspen leaf. Men of the baser sort would unite 
in unholy compact to do them violence, to 
break up the worship and disperse the evan- 
gel, when God's Spirit would take hold, and 
they who came to curse went away to pray. 
Revolutionary soldiers by the hundreds would 
come to the camp of the itinerant, but their 
tactics were of no use ; they were compelled 
to surrender. Men of lion-like courage would 
become as gentle as lambs under their teach- 
ing, and evil spirits, intent on destroying God's 
works, were converted and became the most 
ardent defenders of the faith. Some of the 
itinerants had been soldiers of the Revolution ; 
others, men born on the frontier; and they put 
the same great heart into the spiritual war that 
they had shown in the temporal struggle. They 
could use a musket with the skill of a veteran. 
Bascom sits at the pioneer's table in the wilder- 
ness, when a little child playing before the door 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 299 

in a second disappears. The mother in agony 
cries, " My child ! my child !" In a moment the 
itinerant seizes the rifle, and with unerring 
aim hits the panther ; the beast drops at his 
feet with the mangled body of the child. In 
the solitudes of the mountain and great for- 
ests they would keep back the red men by their 
skill. They had the superb physical strength 
that comes from the journey and the camp. 
Out of the fatigue came new strength ; the 
hard path made rugged natures. Sublime in 
sacrifice without, they were holy in sacrifice 
within. If they did, they also suffered. 

Johannean hearts beat beneath those rugged 
breasts that breathed the very breath of Cal- 
vary. What more beautiful than the aged itin- 
erant riding in Virginia to preach Christ where 
he has already told the story ! A man of high 
position heard him only to scoff as the servant 
of God declares, " Thou art the man." Stung 
by the exposure, the angry man vows to pun- 
ish the truth-bearer, and when at last he meets 
the preacher he compels him to dismount. 
Begging for the favor of prayer, the veteran 
Lee bids the general use his whip, when the 
Holy Spirit takes hold of the evildoer, and the 



300 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

general flees trembling from the scene. But 
all were not Johannean, but some Petrine, who 
brought force to match force, and used earthly 
means to conquer erring men. Nothing tells 
the physical vigor of those men more than the 
brawny blacksmith's experience with one of 
the scouts of the army. He had whipped 
every preacher sent to the circuit, and when a 
new one passed his shop said, "You are the 
new preacher," and prepared to repeat his 
reception to former itinerants. In vain the 
prophet of peace protested, but could not avert 
the trial by might. Dismounting, the evan- 
gel's strength made prostrate the man of toil. 
The Michael of militant host, when he cast him 
on the ground, demanded he come to meet- 
ing, and as the massage treatment continued 
the itinerant sang, " I'm on my way to Zion," 
until between apostolic blows and music the 
blacksmith yielded. It is a forcible illustration 
of the judicial side of the Gospel that, rarely 
given, yet was sometimes the only law to pre- 
pare the way for the entrance of the Gospel 
of peace. Not by might of arm, but by the 
power of the Spirit, were these men vindicated 
in their ministry. They wrought wonderfully. 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 301 

The Jesuit missionaries followed a kindred 
path and equaled them in devotion and sacri- 
fice. They wandered westward from Canada 
and Louisiana, seeking the white man and In- 
dian ; but their toil bore not such sweet and 
strong fruit as that of the itinerant. As Dol- 
linger, the Catholic historian, says : " No bless- 
ing ever rests on their undertakings. They 
build with unwearied assiduity, but a storm 
comes and shatters the building, or a flood 
breaks in and washes it away, or the worm- 
eaten edifice falls to pieces in their hands. 
Their missions in Paraguay, Japan, and among 
the wild North American tribes have long 
since gone to ruin." 

How opposite the result of the Methodist 
missionary in the New World ! Wherever 
the itinerant's voice was heard there arose the 
chapel and schoolhouse, until the lawless pio- 
neer and wild Indian were transformed into in- 
telligent and law-abiding citizens. The austere 
yet joyous faith touched the deeper springs of 
human nature. The Jesuit would dash the 
water on the brow of a white man or Indian, 
and then call him a Christian ; the itinerant 
would demand the inner baptism of the Holy 



302 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

Ghost. The former would plant the convert 
easily made in the Church and call him saved ; 
the latter would demand a nature changed 
and a touch of the soul immediately with the 
divine soul. One was formal, the other spirit- 
ual : the former of water, producing no inward 
change ; the latter the baptism of fire and the 
Holy Ghost transforming the whole nature. 
In opposite faith contending, Methodism 
wrought the greater harvest of virtue and in- 
telligence, upon which the political state was 
built and made secure. Methodism is individual 
and personal, and brings thousands of men into 
a personal communion with God, which is the 
end of all religion. In an age when the Church 
was united to Caesar in many of the colonies, 
and its clergy the servants of the State ; when 
clergy of the Established Church of England 
folded their gowns and fled over the sea ; when 
those remaining were dissolute, drinking, and 
gambling ; when hundreds of parishes were 
without the offices of the Church ; when great 
multitudes of the children of Anglican, Puritan, 
and Covenanter were rushing into the great 
forests of the New World — in that age rose 
upon these shores a new Church led by men of 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 303 

apostolic grace and sacrifice, whose splendid dar- 
ing and triumph in soul-saving repeated Pente- 
cost in America, and by their fruits have shown 
that they are the true successors of the apostles. 
The Christian Church owes a debt of grati- 
tude to the pioneers of Methodism ; for all 
branches have reaped the fruitage of their 
sacrifice. They created for all a heritage 
sweet with the fragrance of virtue and strong in 
protection of home and altar. Great provinces 
of our country would have been without the 
Gospel if these men had not carried it to them 
at the peril of life. Protestant in tradition 
and race, they were quickly influenced by the 
itinerants, and found in the teachings of the 
new Church a satisfaction for their faith, and 
to-day are its noblest defenders. There was 
no missionary spirit in the colonial Churches. 
They were handicapped by intemperance and 
slavery. In New England the life had petri- 
fied into a hard creed ; in the Southern States 
the Church was simply neutral in morals. 
Here and there a Tennent would cry in the 
wilderness, but not until his herald voice was 
taken up by Wesley, Whitefield, and their flying 
messengers was the nation quickened into a 



304 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

new life. These men, with a splendid audacity 
worthy of the cause, passed through the land, 
and wherever they tarried the republic found 
its most efficient aid in the new altar. The 
story of the Methodist itinerant has not yet 
been told. The gifted Eggleston, himself of 
the itinerant ranks, has struck the vein in his 
Circuit Rider, but the richest mine for novelist 
and historian still remains unexplored. Park- 
man and Bishop Kip have done for the Jesuit 
missionaries what will yet be done for the 
Methodist itinerant, and the glory and sacri- 
fice of the latter will be found to be a legend 
of truth exceeding that of wildest romance. 
The unknown hillocks dotting mountain side 
and ocean shore, forest, prairie, and by dark 
bayou, tell the story of a love for Christ unto 
death that must not be forgotten. No bronze 
tablet or tapering shaft of Carrara marble re- 
cords their heroism, but their names are writ- 
ten in the Lamb's Book of Life, and will yet 
be opened to the gaze of an admiring Church. 
Miss Livingston gave her hand to one of the 
noblest men of that army, and one of the 
rarest of any Church. He laid aside ease and 
comfort and gave himself fully to the ministry. 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 305 

How rare the spirit that would cause him to 
endure like Paul stripes and imprisonments 
and beatings that he might preach Christ! He 
had position — it did not excuse him from serv- 
ice, but increased it. He had money — he did 
not get a sore throat and locate. His was not 
a strife for vineyards already cultivated, but 
with creative spirit he sought to make a way 
for the Lord. 

Miss Livingston married the itinerant, Free- 
born Garrettson, but did not travel ; nor did 
marriage handicap him like Charles Wesley. 
If any man ever had social allurements to draw 
him out of the ministry it was Freeborn Gar- 
rettson. He had for his companion one of the 
fairest and most accomplished women of the 
colonies — a woman that was a peer in all the 
exalted virtues that make an attractive woman- 
hood. He had a beautiful home overlooking 
the Hudson, amid the cultivated families that 
made up the Livingston circle. His home was 
spacious, with its broad acres and fine lawn 
leading down to the noble river. Its capacious 
interior, filled with treasures of art, and library 
rich in books and letters of the highest in our 
own land ; its conservatory, filled with rare 



306 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

flowers, were temptations to take him out of 
the saddle. A noble woman was there presid- 
ing over that fireside, and a sweet, loving 
daughter to make gladder his welcome ; but 
Freeborn Garrettson only rested at Rhinebeck. 
He called his home the "Traveler's Rest," 
and as he journeyed from Nova Scotia to 
Georgia tarried only to recruit wasted strength, 
to greet the loved ones at home, and then 
sped onward. And that tall, dignified, and 
holy woman, who spent so many lonely days, 
never murmured, but rejoiced in his work. 
Nay, she did not lament, but supplemented his 
work. He out in the forests and villages was 
building up the Church, and she in the homes 
which Providence opened unto her through 
the circle in which she moved. Through her 
our revered Church found many friends among 
the highest in the colonies. Her work was 
in a limited sphere, but not less valuable. 
In her own family she was beloved, and her 
beautiful life won most of her kindred to 
Christ. Her eldest brother, Robert, the chan- 
cellor, who administered the oath to Washing- 
ton, was converted through her ministry, and 
died regretting that he could not live to lay 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 307 

off his judicial robes and preach the faith that 
saved him. Her youngest brother found in 
his favorite sister's life an example that led 
him to Christ ; and his wife, whose beauty and 
talents made her home one of the social cen- 
ters of Washington in Jackson's administration, 
was also led to the same faith, and for many 
years was an honored member of the Methodist 
Church. It was of this dazzling, accomplished 
woman that Randolph of Roanoke said : 
" Dowdies ! Dowdies won't do for European 
courts, Paris especially. There and at London 
the character of the minister's lady is almost 
as important as his own. It is the very place 
for her. There she would dazzle and charm, 
and surely the salon of Paris must have far 
greater attractions for her than the yahoos of 
Washington." She not only carried the gifts 
of beauty and culture to Paris, but bore them 
in loving service for the Church she loved. 

Montgomery Place, on the Hudson, was her 
home for many years, and here the courtly 
grace and rare conversational powers which 
made her shine in the highest society of 
America were still manifest, while among those 

eminent in Church and State who gathered 
21 



308 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

around her table were our own Bishops Janes 
and Simpson and other ministers, who found 
in her house a prophet's retreat and in her 
goodness of heart a generous welcome. Family 
after family of her position in life was led into 
the new Church by her work and labor of love. 
Her especial work was among her own kindred, 
whose branches were scattered from Albany 
to New York, and God honored her. It was a 
fine field, and she had a coveted opportunity, 
and assiduously did she cultivate it for Christ. 
Early Methodism in every class was in- 
tensely missionary. Every convert was a 
missionary. The man of wealth gave not 
only money, but time and influence. This 
woman did not leave her religion behind, but 
carried it everywhere. High places were 
harvest fields as well as lowly estates. The 
highest were most active. Statesmen, like 
Bassett, would personally plead with men 
to be converted. Harry Gough, drawing into 
his spacious home the elite of southern society, 
would weave into his conversation the new 
faith. General Russell, the statesman and 
warrior, was as brave in the one warfare as in 
the other ; his home was a lighthouse of truth 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 309 

where beneficent waves flowed out in blessing 
beyond the Alleghanies ; while Governor Tiffin, 
astute and wise in the councils of the republic, 
would enter the pulpit, while the highest in 
Washington, from Adams, as President, to 
those of humbler station, sat delighted under 
his preaching. Why the difference in the ear- 
lier Methodists we do not know. A new 
movement has always more enthusiasm ; but 
has it spent its force ? Missionary collections 
were not as large, but the number of conver- 
sions simply astound. Methodism has not 
spent its force, but is depending too much on 
machinery. Personal effort is God's approved 
method, and that means every convert a mis- 
sionary. It was not the impulse of a new 
movement, but the deeper impulse of a new 
nature. The deeper the baptism of the Spirit 
the more intense will be the desire to save 
men. Holiness, character, is also enthusiasm, 
and never was it more clearly proven than in 
the zeal of these men and women of high posi- 
tion. They lived holy lives ; they not only 
professed conversion, but lived in conscious 
fellowship with the Holy Spirit; and instead 
of seeing how little grace they could get along 



3IO METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

with they coveted to be filled with the Spirit. 
Their holy lives made them winning; their 
enthusiasm, that never burned out, was born 
of hearts filled with the love of God. They 
enjoyed religion, and it made them strong. 
They trampled under foot the compromise 
spirit that religion and politics should be kept 
out of society. They were patriotic and loved 
to talk of their country ; they were religious 
and delighted to tell what God had done for 
their souls. 

Mrs. Garrettson was criticised for the ardor 
of her faith, and many of her friends could 
not understand her devotion and her zeal. 
What to her was enthusiasm, God dwelling 
in her, was to them only fanaticism ; but the 
fruits of her life were so rare and beautiful that 
society began to see in this woman, favored 
in birth and position, one more highly favored 
as the friend of God. As a minister's wife she 
was a model ; among her kindred in high 
places she walked in the beauty of holiness. 
Her faith was aggressive ; it was persistent. 
From the hour of the hallowed communion, 
when in touching the bread she felt she 
touched Christ ; when life, before an assent to 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 3 I I 

a creed, now became a personal life — from that 
moment unto the end Katharine Livingston 
was a soul-saver. Her ministry was the same 
as that of her honored husband. One faith 
thrilled their souls; one aim aroused their ho- 
liest ambition. Both stood in perilous places, 
and we know not which evinced the greater 
heroism, the husband that endured the fatigues 
and dangers of forest and mob, or the wife that 
stood for Christ on the social heights of colo- 
nial life. Society has many pitfalls, and it re- 
quires a strong faith to stand unmoved for 
Christ in the court drawing rooms of the na- 
tion. All types of men gathered in her father's 
house, from the stern Tory, who believed in 
kings and bishops, to the grave Presbyterian, 
who hated both royalty and prelacy; the radical 
republican, confounding freedom in state with 
freedom in thought, and casting away in wild 
license all loyalty to God as well as to earthly 
power ; Frenchmen like Lafayette and his 
brave associates w T ho fought with our fathers. 
Boston's flower mingled with Virginia's chiv- 
alry, and the quiet Quaker with the high-spir- 
ited Carolinian. She shared with her sisters a 
rare gift of conversation, and with them kept 



312 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

in touch with the great issues that were being 
settled by pen and sword. Intensely patriotic, 
she was deeply interested in its welfare. She 
was a young woman when the gallant Mont- 
gomery fell at Quebec, and the blow that made 
her eldest sister a widow threw a shadow over 
her own life and deepened her love for the 
republic for which he poured out his life. In 
the growth of the new nation she rejoiced, and 
as different members of her family were se- 
lected for highest political offices her pride 
did not increase, but a deeper responsibility 
came to her to lead them to Christ. Who 
shall estimate the value of this woman's life 
on that of her youngest brother, whose crimi- 
nal code, breathing the tenderest humanity, has 
immortalized his name on both sides of the 
Atlantic ? Who cannot see the gentle charity 
of this favorite sister all through its pages? 
She stamped her own personality on that 
gifted spirit, and upon his beautiful and attract- 
ive wife ; and they shared her faith, and were 
blessed in the communion she loved. 

Methodism in New York and along the 
Hudson owes very much to this brave woman 
and her missionary husband. Their beautiful 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 313 

lives commended it to many who had no sym- 
pathy for the despised creed ; they saw in 
them, not the fanaticism of human error, but 
the enthusiasm of divine love ; not the wild 
extravagance of the bigot, but the temperance 
and purity of God's charity ; and longing for a 
kindred experience their faith became another 
epistle of the Gospel, and studying their life 
and example they learned to know Christ. 
Katharine Livingston Garrettson fills the same 
social position in the higher life of the colonies 
as that of Lady Huntingdon in the United 
Kingdom. Mingling with the makers of our 
republic, she, like her English Methodist sister, 
used pen, tongue, wealth, and position to save 
men and women ; nor were her prayers unan- 
swered, nor did she labor in vain. Eternity 
alone will unfold the fruits of her earnest 
work. She was what President Olin said in 
his eloquent memorial sermon delivered at 
her death, " A family intercessor." She stood 
amid a large circle of kindred as a divine phy- 
sician, and when sickness came and death drew 
near this sainted woman, on bended knee, was 
their advocate before God. " In my frequent 
and protracted visits at the hospitable house, 



314 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

now so desolate, I always had occasion to re- 
mark the strong interest felt by its godly mis- 
tress in the family connections to the remotest 
degrees of relationship ; in the young as well 
as the old ; in the gay, thoughtless boys and 
girls, as well as the older and more sober- 
minded, who delighted so much to visit their 
venerable aunt, as so many affectionately called 
her." Again he says : " Has the Church one 
such intercessor left ? one so mighty with God ? 
one who so loved the Saviour and blood- 
bought soul ? one such Miriam to hold up 
hands that are ready to fall? If so, it will 
prove a vital Church." 

Religion colored the social life, and made 
more beautiful the home as age drew on. 
They built their home, and it became a home 
for all that would tarry. The same spirit 
that led them to make a full consecration of 
their lives unto God's service led them also 
to dedicate their home to him. Hear her 
describing their removal to their new home : 
" Our home being nearly finished, in October, 
1799, we moved into it, and the first night, in 
family prayer, while my blessed husband was 
dedicating it to the Lord, the place was filled 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 3 I 5 

with His presence who in the days of old rilled 
the temple with his glory. Every heart re- 
joiced and felt that God was with us of a truth. 
Such was our introduction into our new habi- 
tation ; and had we not reason to say with 
Joshua, " As for me and my house, we will 
serve the Lord ? " 

Here were dispensed the amenities of the 
olden time hospitality that has made the pa- 
troon life of the Hudson and the planter's life 
of the South one of the most delightful pages 
of colonial history. This courtly woman kept 
open house, and was never happier than when 
surrounded by those who came to share the 
good cheer that filled her home. At their 
hospitable board were gathered the most dis- 
tinguished statesmen, soldiers, and scholars 
of the time, and she, presiding with the grace 
and tact that came of high breeding and true 
goodness of heart, made all feel welcome. To 
the older ministry of our Church Rhinebeck is 
an endearing name. It was to the North what 
Bohemia Manor and Perry Hall were to the 
South. Her own heroic husband had shared 
the kindness of many a stranger in mansion 
and cabin, and his wife delighted to do unto 



316 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

others what they had done for him. The 
prophet's chamber was rarely vacant ; almost 
always some wearied itinerant was found be- 
neath the hospitable roof. Herself an itiner- 
ant's wife, and knowing of the sacrifices of one 
she loved, she was glad, in Christ's name, to 
give comfort unto God's evangel. Not only 
were their social peers invited, and comrades 
in the great army of evangelists and kindred, 
but in that home another class was found. 
"All," says Dr. Olin, "who were much in the 
habit of visiting the house will remember to 
have met there from time to time some victim 
of oppression or misfortune, perhaps a foreign 
refugee waiting to obtain employment, or an 
invalid for the return of health ; perhaps an 
orphan child or a bereaved family. These were, 
for the time, objects of chief solicitude, for 
whose physical comfort, and yet more for their 
moral well-being, the whole family movement 
was directed." 

Much has been written in praise of the 
colonial life, and it is worthy of all praise. It 
was thoroughly American. It was hearty in 
its hospitality and courtly in its manners. 
It did not wait the caprice of the foreign de- 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 317 

signer to know the shape and form of gown 
to wear. Madam Washington could wear a 
plain homespun gown and a simple kerchief 
around her neck, and still be honored as 
the chief lady of the land. Men did not 
take their accent from graceless men across 
the water, but were proud of being distinc- 
tively American. No colonial dame would in- 
vite a number of friends and then not have 
them introduced, but allow them to stare and 
comment. Such demeanor would stamp the 
hostess as unworthy a place in good society. 
The social lines were not so closely drawn, nor 
were the fictitious distinctions of modern so- 
ciety carried out. There was a place for virtue 
in plain garments, and intelligence and piety 
found a welcome. Many pens have described 
the baronial hospitality of colonial days. Our 
own Asbury and other itinerants have left the 
picture of that life which has passed away, and 
thrown a halo of romance around it that lingers 
at this hour. Rhinebeck remained with its kind- 
ness continued, to highborn and lowly, after 
the itinerant and his wife entered into eternal 
rest. For over half a century an only child per- 
petuated the beautiful home life of her parents. 



318 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

In her father's house many found welcome, un- 
til death coming in age to her, the money used 
in life continues her father's ministry in death. 
Bequeathing to the Church Extension Society 
twenty thousand dollars, the name of Freeborn 
Garrettson lives, and the ministry begun by 
him is magnified as the thousands he gave go 
on building churches and saving men. It was a 
fitting disposition of this man's estate. He gave 
his life to the Church, and now, being dead, 
continues in his daughter's charity the work of 
building up the Church he so ardently loved. 

Freeborn Garrettson was the Fletcher of 
American Methodism. Among that body of 
heroic young men who organized the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church he stands out preeminent 
for purity of life and zeal in devotion. He 
had the spirit of Fletcher, that never wearied 
in the work of Christ, and that purity of char- 
acter which wins and holds us. Their parishes 
were different — the one an obscure spot in 
England, the other the far-reaching borders of 
a new world. Both were born to wealth and 
position, and though unequal in culture were 
one in refinement and grace. Each possessed 
rare gifts of leadership that were recognized 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 319 

by Wesley, who desired Fletcher for his suc- 
cessor in England and suggested Garrettson 
for superintendency in America. The death 
of Fletcher defeated Wesley's purpose abroad ; 
but we know not why his hope for Garrettson 
was not carried out in America. In character 
and service none surpass him. He preached 
fifty-three years without salary, and adorned 
his profession with a grace and dignity rarely 
seen in the Christian Church. Methodism 
would have honored itself if Wesley's wish 
had been carried out and he had been chosen 
a bishop, for of all the men that had wrought 
nobly for the Church, and for all the qualities 
that make up an apostolic bishop, Freeborn 
Garrettson was the best. He was a holy man ; 
he was given to hospitality ; he ruled his house 
in the fear of God, and he was eminent in abil- 
ity. He was a member of the " Great Confer- 
ence," as Bancroft calls it, that formed the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and of every 
General Conference until his death. He shared 
with Bishop Simpson a preference for a local 
episcopate, believing that better and more per- 
manent good could be wrought for the Church 
by such a distribution of the episcopal juris- 



320 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

diction. In 1827, in his seventy-sixth year, he 
surrendered his trust, one of the noblest men of 
any Church, a model for our own communion, a 
pattern for all. Death summoned him at the 
home of a friend in New York city, and the 
hour of departure was that of a victor prepar- 
ing for his exaltation. Praise continued until 
the song of faith here yielded to the higher 
psalm of the Church triumphant — a fitting 
close of a noble life. 

" One in whom persuasion and belief 
Had ripened into faith, and faith become 
A passionate intuition." 

Katharine Livingston, his wife, lingered far 
beyond her husband and kindred, dying in 
1849, in her ninety-sixth year. Her character 
ripened with rarest beauty of holiness ; widened 
in catholicity, strengthened in faith, and broad- 
ened in usefulness. Through her prayers she 
saw more eminent men and women of our ear- 
lier days brought to Christ than is often per- 
mitted to one person. Age stole on slowly, 
and her faculties were clear to the end. To 
the last her faith was aggressive, and souls 
were won for Christ. In her large circle of 
kindred, love had become reverence for this 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 32 I 

mother in Israel, as they came to share her 
hospitality and hear the romantic stories of the 
Revolutionary clays or the still more heroic 
legends of the itinerant missionaries. The 
successive changes of our social and religious 
life found her ready to accept the good and 
resolute to cling to what was right. Conser- 
vative, she yet rejoiced in all progressive 
changes, and reforms in Church and State 
found in her a stanch friend and advocate. 
She retained the stately courtesy of the olden 
time, and her faith and conduct were a rare 
illustration of the highest religious and social 
life of our nation. Her tall form, dignified 
bearing, and beautiful face were made more 
winning by the lofty faith and sweet charity 
that made up her Christian character. Her 
home during her long and useful life, as well 
as that of her daughter, remained a " Travel- 
er's Rest." She touched the threshold of a 
hundred years, when the life making pure and 
holy the high places of our earlier society was 
crowned. At the eventide of the lengthened 
day the glory of her faith shone most effulgent. 
What more beautiful than the close of this re- 
vered centenarian's life ! It was not the close, 



322 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

but an entering into life. Faith had ripened 
into assurance, and the long hope was blossom- 
ing into a blessed immortality. Her last intel- 
ligible utterances were made up of what made 
up her life — earnest prayer and triumphant 
assurance. "Come, Lord Jesus! Come, Lord 
Jesus! come quickly!" she cried, with eyes 
and hands raised toward heaven. Soon after, 
clapping her hands in holy triumph, she three 
times exclaimed exultingly, " He comes ! he 
comes ! he comes ! " 

Dr. Buckley gives this estimate of this elect 
lady : " Katharine Livingston, who became 
Mrs. Freeborn Garrettson, was perhaps the 
most remarkable acquisition to Methodism in 
this country among women, if her accomplish- 
ments, family connections, and early history be 
duly considered. Her refinement and genuine 
culture, combined with her propriety, sense, and 
affability, made her residence the resort of both 
the intelligent and refined." In her lineage, 
accomplishments, high social station, and god- 
liness she was representative of what was high- 
est in the early social life of the American colo- 
nies. With Margaret Beekman, her Spartan 
mother, Mrs. Governor Van Cortlandt, called by 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 323 

Bishop Asbury a " Shunammite indeed," with 
her accomplished sisters and her beautiful and 
accomplished sister-in-law, Mrs. Edward Liv- 
ingston, she gave her influence and life to the 
Methodist Church. Her home, like that of 
these colonial matrons, was the resting-place 
of Asbury and his winged messengers as they 
hastened from the Canadas to the Carolinas 
and from the Atlantic coast to the new West 
to spread the Gospel of Christ. Her name in 
loving ministry to the itinerants is associated 
with the woman friends of our first bishop and 
his heroic associates : with Mary, wife of Judge 
White, of Dover ; and Ann, wife of United 
States Senator Bassett, of Bohemia Manor; 
with Prudence, wife of Harry Gough, and her 
sister, daughters of Governor Ridgely, of 
Maryland ; with Mrs. Russell, sister of the 
illustrious Patrick Henry and wife of General 
Russell, of Revolutionary fame in Virginia, 
whose daughter, Mrs. Bowen, was pronounced 
by General Jackson " the most remarkable 
woman he ever knew — her place of prayer and 
devotional reading the hollow of a sycamore 
tree;" with Mrs. Edward Tiffin, wife of the 

first Governor of Ohio, of whom Asbury says, 
22 



324 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

" Within sight of this beautiful mansion the 
residence of her brother, General Worthington, 
lies the dust of Mary Tiffin. It was as much 
as I could do to forbear weeping over her speak- 
ing grave ;" and with Jane Trimble, of Ohio, 
Roman in virtue, bravery, and uprightness, and 
mother of statesmen and warriors who so im- 
pressed her character upon her children that 
when one of her sons was Governor of Ohio and 
was invited to attend certain amusements he re- 
fused, saying, " I have a most excellent Method- 
ist mother at home whom it would afflict to know 
I participated in such amusements" — women 
of the highest station, wealth, and refinement ; 
social leaders in the North and South and 
West, who gave to Christ and our revered 
Church, in their holy lives and loving service, 
an aid that, building up the Church of Christ 
on these shores, has made possible a secure 
and beneficent political rule. 

On the social heights of the new republic 
stood these noble women, clothed in a beauty 
of holiness that won many of their peers to 
the new faith. Their beautiful homes, the 
fortress of America's higher social life, were 
not only a welcome retreat for the missionary, 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 325 

but were also temples of worship in which 
they led in devotion, and proved so efficient in 
saving souls that the courtly hospitality around 
the well- spread table was forgotten in the 
precious experimental faith that flowed out 
in prayer and testimony around the family 
altar. 

Providence gave the pioneer Church of the 
republic access to the natural leadership of 
the nation, that the new faith might not be de- 
stroyed by the opposition to its teachings. He 
that hid Moses through the protecting love of 
a king's daughter made the nobility a shield 
for Methodism in England, and the highest 
families of the colonies its refuge in the new 
world. Entering mansion and cabin, and with 
equal charity breaking the bread of life, it has 
continued its hallowed ministry on the same 
•apostolic lines even unto this day ; and if it 
has led the Churches of the republic in num- 
bers and moral power, its primacy is due to 
the fact that it honors all men, and has a place 
for the highest and lowest in its brotherhood. 
The pioneer Church is the primate Church in 
adaptation to all classes. Its doctrine of a 
knowable God is the only creed that will cut 



326 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

away agnosticism. Its lofty standard of holi- 
ness is the only ideal that God could give, and 
a lower ensign would dishonor him. Its high- 
est privilege of doctrine, that " the Spirit it- 
self beareth witness with our spirit, that we 
are the children of God," unites it in fellow- 
ship with the devout of all religions, who, 
heeding the " Spirit given unto all men to 
profit withal," though to-day not of this fold, 
shall yet become one flock of the " one Shep- 
herd." The trammels of sacerdotalism, with its 
fetich of apostolic succession flowing through 
prelates' gowns who have committed every 
crime of the Decalogue ; with its perversion of 
the holy supper from a memorial feast to that 
of a necromantic meal ; with its limitation of 
communion and its intolerance, are contrary 
to the simple teachings of Christ, and cartnot 
hold the intelligence of the future. Already, 
the intellect of continental Europe has re- 
volted against Rome, and her gifted sons are 
aliens to her faith. Already the Church of 
Cranmer has lost its hold upon the very classes 
that gave to England its Reformation. The 
modern mind will not accept the narrow limi- 
tations of Augustine ; nor will the nineteenth 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 327 

century bind its soul to the creed of the 
youthful Calvin. A free Gospel, in a free 
Church, in a free land, would seem to point 
out the teachings of Wesley as the creed of 
the future. The widening of the Presbyterian 
Confession and the revolt in the Anglican 
Church are all on the line that leads to the cath- 
olicity and tolerance of Wesley. The whole 
trend of religious thought is toward a broader 
liberty of thought, a more tolerant attitude 
toward all Christians, and a simpler creed. The 
Churches built upon mediaeval foundations 
cannot bear the swift stroke of the hammer of 
criticism. The foundations and walls must be 
examined, and the weak stones in the temple 
of faith be replaced by new material, or the 
structure will fall. Methodism needs no re- 
pair; her intellectual bulwarks are strong to- 
day, and her creed needs no revision to allure 
men of most advanced thought. Thoroughly 
in spirit with the present, she changes not her 
gown at the dictate of Lambeth, nor forms 
her creed after the erring apostle who sits in 
his palace along the banks of the Tiber. At 
the front of the blue-eyed Saxon family, in 
number of disciples holding the moral premier- 



328 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

ship, she to-day bids all men, with the shaded 
eye of the critic and the loving heart of a 
saint, examine her credentials and study her 
work, and by her apostolic fruit in saving 
humanity reveals most clearly and distinctly 
her origin and ministry. For over a hundred 
years her temple has stood, and not a weak 
stone can be found in it. 

We look back upon the makers of American 
Methodism with veneration, and wonder how 
the noble men and godly women who allied 
themselves to the despised creed wrought amid 
ostracism and persecution to build up the 
Church we love. Evidently God was with 
them ; and we see the same Spirit in the con- 
verted leadership of the colonies that has ever 
been present in his Church. 

It w r as the same Spirit which led Moses, the 
scholar and prince, to reject the preferments 
of the court of Egypt and ally himself to the 
despised Israelites ; that called Paul, the cul- 
tured Cilician, to identify himself with the new 
faith at Jerusalem ; that arrested Clement and 
Paula, of Rome, and bade them yield their 
training and social estate to the cause of 
Christ ; that drew, in Germany, the Prince 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 329 

Elector, Frederic, to the side of Luther ; and 
in England touched the soul of Lady Hunting- 
don and others of the English nobility, bind- 
ing them in Christly endeavor to Wesley and 
Whitefield. 

The method of Providence was repeated as 
the higher life of the colonies was purified by 
earnest teachings of the early evangelists of 
Methodism. The common people heard them 
gladly, and "men and women of honorable 
estate not a few." The true Church is ever 
catholic. The clearest note of apostolicity 
was sounded when Wesley planted the Church 
of Christ in America. The character of its 
converts reveals its divine origin. A Church 
that could at once attract to its altars the 
higher life of the nation, causing the winebib- 
ber to forsake his cups, the slaveholder to re- 
lease his slaves, and the erring to abandon 
their evil ways ; a Church that could with 
facile ease develop holiness out of impurity, 
and a noble and pure manhood out of a cor- 
rupt society, is truly apostolic. And that is 
what early Methodism accomplished. Enter- 
ing the colonies as they were being molded 
into a sovereign nation, it captured many of the 



330 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

choicest spirits for Christ, and created in them 
a desire for holiness and a missionary zeal that, 
crystallizing in deed, has given to America one 
of its strongest Churches. Methodism was 
holiness on fire. Its influence was not only 
the siccum lumen of the scholar, but the burn- 
ing flame of the prophet. 

Katharine Livingston and her saintly hus- 
band were representatives of what is highest 
in the Church of Christ. To the grace of 
social position, and to the helpful power of 
wealth, was added the highest grace of holi- 
ness. We read their lives, and are led back to 
the beginning of Christianity. We see them 
flushed with the glow of Pentecost, which 
knows no fading, and instinct with its enthu- 
siasm, which knows no decline. The higher 
life of colonial Methodism was not in its social 
position, so elevated ; not in its wealth, a sacred 
stewardship ; not in its stately courtesy, cloth- 
ing the form like a well-fitting garment ; not in 
its hospitality, so hearty and lavish; but it was 
in its holiness of living. The representative 
homes of the new Church were ruled not only 
by men of honor and cavaliers, but by saints 
whose dignity of position, elegance of man- 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 33 I 

ners, and social amenities were made more 
beautiful by the beauty of holiness. The 
highborn were the lowly ; the highest, the 
holiest. 

From Cortlandt Manor and Rhinebeck, on 
the Hudson, to Rembert Hall, in South Caro- 
lina, religion was the living theme of converse ; 
Christ a personal friend and fact of conscious- 
ness, and holiness of heart the aim and aspira- 
tion of all. That picture of beauty will adorn 
any age. Men bearing the badge of Wesley 
governed States, legislated in the national 
Congress, and sat in the highest judicial seats 
of the nation ; but their faith was not a secret 
conviction, nor did it sit loosely upon their 
shoulders. It blended in their thought and 
conduct, and reminded others that they had 
been with Jesus. 

To many students the genesis and develop- 
ment of Methodism is an unsolved problem ; 
there seems to be no correspondence between 
the causes and the results ; but a deeper read- 
ing will show an adequate cause for its mar- 
velous growth. The human agencies conse- 
crated would naturally produce such results. 
The zeal of its ministry, the holiness of its 



332 METHODISM IN THE HIGHER SOCIETY 

laity, and the close alliance of both in conse- 
cration were the promise that, fulfilled unto us, 
their children, has made the New World a cov- 
eted boon for all who seek to worship God 
under their own vine and fig tree. 

Methodism came at the dawn of the repub- 
lic, and enfranchised religion for free humanity, 
offering in the spiritual world what men had 
gained in the political strife — a freedom spirit- 
ual to coordinate with earthly freedom. The 
oldest rule spiritual was united to the oldest 
political, for monarchy and prelacy were never 
God's wish for any people. Both were but tol- 
erated forms of rule, and equally opposed to 
God's word. The hour of the new faith was 
providential. The grewsome Gospel of the 
Puritan had chilled the soul, the lax and 
easy ritual of the Anglican had corrupted soci- 
ety, and the limitations of Calvin had created 
dissent, when the new altar was set up ; and the 
children reared in the older confessions turned 
unto the new and found in its teachings a satis- 
faction for their souls. Its love of freedom, its 
catholicity, its patriotism, its emphasis of con- 
duct rather than tradition, its absence of dog- 
matism, its earnest protest against all evil and 



OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 333 

oppression, its zeal and sacrifice, and its sub- 
lime ideal of a pure heart found at once a 
response in the American heart, and have held 
it until this day. Conservator of the highest 
liberty, it has made of political freedom the 
mold of spiritual freedom, and in making of 
men citizens of the commonwealth of God has 
only prepared them for nobler duties in the 
republic of man. 

In its stern yet joyous Gospel are hidden 
the finest fruits that can enrich humanity, ever 
yielding what Wordsworth's fine thought ex- 
presses : 

" Stern Lawgiver! Yet thou dost wear 
The Godhead's most benignant grace; 

Nor know we anything so fair 
As is the smile upon thy face. 

Flowers laugh before thee on their beds, 

And fragrance in thy footing treads. 

Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong, 

And the most ancient heavens through thee are 
fresh and strong." 



5 ducational V\? oi 1 ^ of TY[ etgodi^t W omen. 



" Christianity is, as the school of Alexandria loved to repre- 
sent it, a divine philosophy, and the Church its school. 

" As long as we live our weakness will not allow us to be 
discharged from school." — Calvin. 

" I deeply feel, my comrades, that we must come into closer 
touch as toilers for humanity. No accident of birth or of ma- 
terial circumstance must make the smallest separation between 
us as enlisted in a holy war. Life is a trust, and if, by our 
heavenly Father's love, we possess some good gift, and are 
permitted to use it for him, some power that we have conse- 
crated ' pass it along like bread at sacrament.' Let self be so 
surrendered that all we have is invested in this one absorbing 
enterprise of our life — the profit of humanity." — Lady Henry 
Somerset. 

" O men, that plan the stately pile 

Where law and learning hold their sway, 

And drive, with subterfuge and will, 
Your mothers from the door away, 

" Undo the doors ! In God's high noon 

An equal heritage have we ; 
Your cold exclusion's out of tune 

With Nature's hospitality." 

— Julia Ward Howe. 



ELIZA GARRETT. 

THE scene is Oxford University, England, 
the oldest educational seat of the Anglo- 
Saxon race. In the drama are venerable men 
in gown and bands. Some are proud to be 
called the successors of a Galilean Carpenter, 
and all worship him as their Saviour. Six 
devout young men wait the denouement in sad- 
ness and anxiety. It closes as the vice-chan- 
cellor rises and repeats, " I therefore, by my 
visitorial power, do hereby pronounce them 
expelled." The St. James Chronicle on the 
following Monday gave to the public this 
charming bit of college gossip: ".On Friday 
last, March nth, 1768, six students belonging 
to St. Edmund's Hall were expelled the uni- 
versity, after a hearing of several hours before 
the vice-chancellor and some of the heads of 
the houses, for holding Methodistical tenets, 
and taking upon themselves to pray, read, and 
expound the Scriptures, and singing hymns in 
private houses. " 

There were no charges of immorality in 



338 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

conduct — they were pure ; none of mental 
inability — they had passed their examina- 
tion with credit ; none of Church disloyalty 
— they loved it and had subscribed to the 
Thirty -nine Articles. They were children 
of tradesmen, and had followed their parents 
vocation. Their birth was their sin. They 
had been converted, and, the fire burning in 
their hearts, they had prayed without a book ; 
and to fill up the cup of offense had taken 
their Bibles and expounded God's word in pri- 
vate houses to the poor and neglected. Their 
preaching was their crime. Students were 
drunken and blasphemous. One, in irrever- 
ence, had called the miracles of Moses and 
Christ only Oriental fictions ; but these were 
the badges of gentility and accurate training. 
Their conduct was their vindication. The six 
expelled students, said the sages of the aca- 
demic grove, were smuggled in by Lady 
Huntingdon, that through the university they 
" might skulk into holy orders." The last act 
is performed, and the expulsion of Wesley 
from his father's pulpit, and his followers from 
the national Church, and their children from 
the national university, complete the ostra- 



ELIZA GARRETT. 339 

cism of Methodism from Church and State, 
and also the measure of intolerance crushing 
the new faith. But Providence, with vigilant 
eye, is ever watching his cause and preparing 
new means to carry on his work ; and the 
closed door behind becomes the open gate of a 
new and broader field of blessing for his chil- 
dren. Ever in the spiritual warfare chivalric 
spirits are found that, trampling on earthly 
coronets, win a place in a higher knighthood ; 
and so it was, Methodism, expelled from Ox- 
ford, found in a Christian woman's heart a new 
home of culture. In November, 1767, a col- 
lege had been planned to meet the increasing 
demand for ministers of the new faith, and Lady 
Huntingdon and other women of the nobility 
had united, and, buying an old castle at Trev- 
ecca, in Wales, a school had been opened. 
It was opened not a day too soon, for now the 
godly youth, who dared to talk of " inspiration, 
regeneration, and drawing near to God," was 
an enthusiast, and, like the dissenting Pres- 
byterian, Puritan, and Quaker, could not have 
a place in the university. Woman's love for 
Christ is declared again in the educational 

work of our great revival. It was a woman's 
23 



340 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

benevolence that made possible Kingswood, 
the first school of Methodism ; Lady Maxwell, 
of Edinburgh, gave John Wesley $2,500 to 
begin it, and added $1,500 additional to can- 
cel its indebtedness, forming by her gift its 
first secondary school. It was a woman that 
founded its first college and theological school ; 
and in nothing is the spirit of Methodism more 
evident than in its privileges, curriculum, and 
conduct ; it was religious, and taught Chris- 
tianity ; it was broadly tolerant, preparing 
students for the Anglican, Presbyterian, and 
Wesleyan ministry. No religious tests were 
allowed, and the very Church that had closed 
its doors against Methodist students was in- 
vited to share its prerogatives. The son of 
the Anglican, as well as that of the despised 
Methodist, could enter and remain three years 
without cost of board, clothing, or tuition, and, 
when graduated, was presented with a new suit 
of clothes. Its catholicity was seen in its first 
president, John Fletcher, whose rare gifts of 
scholarship are shaded by his more wonderful 
gifts of grace. He was an ideal college presi- 
dent, awakening all the faculties of the stu- 
dent's nature, opening his soul, educating his 






ELIZA GARRETT. 341 

intellect, instructing him in its highest duties, 
and by example and method, as well as by 
matter, making a well-trained manhood. He 
met his students in the class room and quick- 
ened their intellects; he would lead them to 
his closet and plead with them for hours for 
the crown of all culture, a pure heart with a 
trained intellect. Fletcher was an accom- 
plished scholar, as were all the leaders of 
Methodism, The new faith was born in a uni- 
versity, its genesis the study of the New Tes- 
tament in Greek, and its sponsors at baptism 
the best representatives of the earlier refor- 
mations. In Wesley's reading of the preface 
of Luther's Commentary to the Romans we 
have Wittenberg; in the witness of the Spirit, 
taught by the young Moravian professor, Peter 
Boehler, we have Jena ; in Fletcher, the keen 
intellect and pure heart, we have the best of 
Geneva ; while Oxford, in her best traditions, is 
" represented in the band of praying students 
called the Holy Club," which is but the crys- 
tallization of the principles of Protestantism 
that, beginning under Wyclif, at Oxford, in 
the fifteenth century, and passing through 
Prague, Wittenberg, and Geneva, find their 



342 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

fullest development in the place of its birth. 
For the same doctrines taught by Wyclif 
and his wandering preachers are the sublime 
verities taught by Wesley and the itinerants 
even at this day. Wyclif to Huss, and he 
to Luther, and he in turn to Wesley, and the 
torch handed to the Church of God in the six- 
teenth century comes back again to Oxford, 
and is rekindled by John Wesley. 

Methodism was not only an evangelical ref- 
ormation, but also an intellectual revival. The 
fire that kindled the Church first burned in the 
university. It was the scholar's thought before 
the reformer's message. Quickened and fos- 
tered by university life, its greatest progress 
has been on these lines, until it is a disputed 
question whether it has been greater as a har- 
vest of culture or as a spread of holiness. A 
scholarly woman is the first factor of influence in 
the reformation, and her impress unconscious- 
ly stamped itself upon her son, and he in turn 
impressed modern Christianity. The spiritual 
birth gave a mental quickening which created 
at once the necessity of a school and a college, 
and Kingswood was founded in 1739, the first 
Methodist school, and Trevecca College, in 



ELIZA GARRETT. 343 

1767, in Wales. Whitefield preached at the 
opening of both schools. From Kingswood 
has been developed a system of training, from 
the primary school to the university, that is 
belting the globe in munificence. As in the 
Old World a woman's love made possible the 
first theological school, so in the New her be- 
nevolence created our strongest foundation for 
the training of the clergy. The gift of Mrs. 
Eliza Garrett, of Chicago, of §250,0x30, in 1853, 
was the largest offering laid on the altar of 
education up to that time, except that of Ste- 
phen Girard, of Philadelphia. She was the 
pioneer woman of wealth in a field of be- 
nevolence that is now familiar to many who, 
emulating her example, have built and endowed 
colleges and theological seminaries. Eliza 
Garrett, like Lady Maxwell, was left a widow 
and childless, and, finding herself one of the 
wealthiest women of the Northwest, she soon 
learned the meaning of her position, and at 
once set to work honoring her stewardship. 
In 1848 she was bereft of her husband, the 
Mayor of Chicago, and one of its most suc- 
cessful merchants, and in 1853, after remember- 
ing those in her will whom nature had made 



344 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

dependent upon her, she resolved to make the 
Church of her choice the recipient of her es- 
tate, and prepared to hand over to its care 
what, at that time, was the largest gift ever 
bestowed in our nation for higher education. 
This woman turned the thought of the wealthy 
of the nation into the highest channel, creating 
a new ambition, unknown and unrecognized 
before — not the creation of a family name by 
perpetuating wealth, but diffusing her benefac- 
tion for the good of society. She linked her 
name to posterity, and, in honoring her Church, 
lives to-day in its highest ministry. She leads 
in that form of benevolence which conserves 
most strongly the interests of a nation ; for the 
schools are not only a defense of Christianity, 
but the higher schools are the fortresses of the 
nation. America, rich in foundations such as 
this Christian woman built, will be strong, and 
her future assured ; for our defense as a nation 
is not in the might of arms, but in force of 
ideas, and the bulwark of the nation is not in 
the armory, but in the school. Mrs. Garrett not 
only gave her great wealth to the Church, but 
consecrated it to a special work. Two pur- 
poses blended in her gift — the training of the 



ELIZA GARRETT. 345 

ministry and the higher education of woman 
— and in controlling these she grasped the most 
potential forces of the whole social fabric. 
None may estimate the value of a trained min- 
istry and a cultivated womanhood. You can 
graduate a nation's position by the character 
of its women and of its spiritual leaders. If 
the priest's lips keep knowledge the people 
will be blest, for ever is it true, like priest like 
people, like shepherd like sheep. If woman is 
ignorant and denied the same equipment for 
life as her brother she will be degraded, and in 
turn will lower the tone of society. Women 
and the clergy are the foci of power in all na- 
tions, and their united sovereignties in God's 
work demand the best discipline for each. 
Eliza Garrett was a cultivated woman. Born 
in New York, she received in its schools a 
preparation for life that led her to study and 
work for Christ. Entering the new West, shar- 
ing with her husband all the privations and 
successes that followed him, she caught the 
spirit of the men and women who were build- 
ing up the great empire. Residing at Chicago, 
she came in contact with the leaders of State 
and Church, and saw with a seer's vision the 



346 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

future, and united her name to those who will 
be called the benefactors of the republic. 
Her benevolence took a natural form, for she 
was a Christian and loved her Church. Meth- 
odism found in her a devoted disciple, rever- 
ent in attendance upon the sanctuary, punctual 
in her place at the prayer meeting, edifying by 
her testimony in class meeting, and abundant 
in her acts of charity. Her gift for educational 
purposes reveals her appreciation of the high- 
est work of the Church ; for it is as much the 
mission of Christianity to remove ignorance as 
to rebuke sin, for as many perils come to the 
Church by darkened and erring intellects as by 
evil hearts. Superstition is only another name 
for sin, and whoever lets in the light and gives 
the truth shall set men free. 

Methodism hallows all ministries, and from 
the beginning has been the ardent friend of all 
culture and humanity. It dares to prove all 
things, and its very audacity in the quest of 
truth is but another evidence of its divine 
origin. Wesley threw a free lance in every field 
of knowledge, with keenest scalpel dissected 
creed and tradition, and cared not whose label 
they bore or by what authority they demanded 



ELIZA GARRETT. 347 

acceptance. He knew that truth had nothing 
to fear from investigation, and that He who 
formed nature and wrote revelation were one, 
and that the work of the word and the word 
of the work would ever harmonize. Mrs. Gar- 
rett honored her Church by her gift, for, from 
the days of Wesley, it has encouraged the best 
training for its ministry. Wesley was a gradu- 
ate and Fellow of the oldest school of Protest- 
antism, and had all the instincts and enthu- 
siasms that come out of such associations. He 
never ceased to burn the student's lamp nor 
laid aside the student's gown until his work 
was done. Coke's scholarship was of a higher 
grade than that of the head of the Episcopal 
Church, or of the grave presidents of Yale or 
Harvard. A Doctor of Laws of Oxford, when 
he first stepped upon these shores he at once 
attracted to him the most cultivated and re- 
fined of the colonies. No sooner had the 
Christmas Conference adjourned than Coke 
and Asbury began to collect money to found 
a college. It was the first ministry of the new 
Church. These men gave one third of their 
time to collecting funds with which to build it. 
The story of the beginnings of the first college 



348 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

of Methodism in America is full of pathos and 
sadness. The cruel deed that deprived the 
young Church of its first educational center 
never comes to my heart without a pang, for 
the sad calamity was a blow to Methodism in 
our own region, from which we have never re- 
covered, and the ashes of Cokesbury College 
are upon the altar of Philadelphia Methodism 
to-day, and make it the only Conference in all 
Methodism without a school — a deprivation 
that makes the heart of every lover of our 
Church burn with shame. Fifty thousand dol- 
lars were raised by the infant Church, and a 
college was founded at Abingdon, near Balti- 
more. A magnificent building was built, one 
hundred and eight feet long, forty feet wide, 
and three stories high, a faculty provided, and 
most excellent work done. In that first seat 
of culture you can see the three lines upon 
which our revered Church ever moves — religion, 
culture, humanity. The humanitarian spirit 
that made the first Methodist chapel a dispen- 
sary as well as a preaching place, made this 
school an orphanage as well as a school. The 
same spirit that animates the ladies of Phila- 
delphia in their beneficent work for the father- 



ELIZA GARRETT. 349 

less filled the minds and hearts of the fathers. 
Cokesbury was doing good work, but the same 
evil heart that put the torch to Epworth Rec- 
tory laid in ashes our first college. Undaunted, 
another attempt was made, when a child's care- 
lessness caused it again to be consumed. We 
can understand how the Church staggered, and 
cowardly men said, " Our mission is not to ed- 
ucate " ; for it was an awful calamity. The 
national universities closed against Method- 
ism in England, and the first college in America 
twice reduced to ashes, were enough to dis- 
courage ordinary men ; but time soon changed 
erring decisions, and new attempts were made. 
Methodism met the first educational disaster 
near the place in which it perfected its organ- 
ization ; but out of the very church that was 
consumed with the college, and in the very 
city in which the second building was burned, 
has arisen one of the most magnificent piles of 
granite on the American shores. Out of the 
ashes of Lovely Lane Meeting House and 
Cokesbury College have arisen a beautiful 
church and a woman's college, and from its 
central hall rings out in glad welcome the old 
bell of our first college, calling not the boys, 



350 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

as a hundred years ago, but the girls to study 
and worship. 

The Woman's College of Baltimore is one 
of the best equipped schools in America, and 
was made possible by the benevolence of a 
noble Christian woman, whose husband, Dr. 
Goucher, its founder, will ever share with 
his wife the loving remembrance of a grateful 
Church. Contesting with Vassar, Wellesley, 
and Smith Colleges in its thoroughness of 
discipline, its fruit is already seen in the pure 
and well trained girls that have come out of 
its halls. Could the venerable celibate Asbury 
come back to-day he would find the girls 
climbing where their brothers essayed, and in 
the struggle gaining new strength without the 
loss of a single feminine grace. 

The building of Cokesbury College was a 
splendid illustration of the benevolence of the 
infant Church, that numbered only fifteen 
thousand members at that time, and it would 
at this day be considered a liberal offering. 
The spirit that so quickly built the school 
could not long be crushed. The malice of men 
can delay, but cannot defeat God's purpose ; 
and so in this, our first disaster, the torch of the 



ELIZA GARRETT. 35 I 

incendiary only enlightened more minds to the 
necessity of church schools, and burned into the 
heart a deeper determination to conquer the 
intellect of men as well as to rule their hearts. 
It was a dark day when the national universi- 
ties of England were closed against Method- 
ism and a darker hour still when its first col- 
lege in America was twice reduced to ashes ; 
but a ministry that had endured what the 
young itinerants had borne, and a laity who 
had suffered ostracism and persecution for their 
creed, were not to be put down by defeat. 
Opposition only drew out their Christian hero- 
ism, and with chivalric soul they won their way 
in this new land, and against the greatest odds 
have become the greatest educational force in 
the nation. 

The faith of Methodism compels training. 
An illiterate Methodist is an anomaly ; an igno- 
rant Romanist is natural. Not ignorance, but 
intelligence, is the mother of true devotion. 
The true ideal is the heart of the cherubim 
with the intellect of the seraphim, and that 
was more fully realized in the first college of 
Methodist presbyters than of any class of men 
that we read of in church history. Regenera- 



352 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

tion is an intellectual and spiritual birth ; con- 
version is a mental quickening. The spirit- 
resurrection carries with it the quickening of 
all other faculties. Growth in grace coordi- 
nates with growth in knowledge, and the prog- 
ress of the one is the advancement of the 
other. Spiritual life begets intellectual life ; 
the intense faith in the invisible, the deep 
quest into spiritual things, is ever transmitted 
and transformed. 

Any faith that leads men directly to God must 
quicken their intellectual faculties. The intel- 
lectual splendor of Unitarianism is the direct 
sequence of its faith. The mental power of 
early Methodism was the direct result of its 
spiritual life. When you put before the heart 
and mind an image of wood, or, as John Knox 
put it, "a bit of painted board," you cripple in- 
tellect. When you limit the soul's need to the 
work of a priest or to a wafer you cripple intel- 
lect. Spiritual truths which are labeled and 
prepared for the soul, like a druggist's prescrip- 
tion, only make mental dullards. The finished 
creed of Romanism is its intellectual bane, 
paralyzin'g every nation it controls. Method- 
ism in kinship of philosophy with Unitarianism, 



ELIZA GARRETT. 353 

leading the soul beyond priest, wafer, and 
Church, to an immediate contact with the All 
Soul, must quicken intellect, as well as purify 
the heart. In the census of leadership in the 
late civil war the children of Methodism were 
found to have exceeded all others. The lead- 
ership in statesmanship and in military service 
was born of the old-fashioned shouting moth- 
erhood of Methodism. " The secret of their 
mental power," said an eminent bishop, "was 
begotten of the stern unbending convictions 
of their parents." The blast faith and dille- 
tante intellect never produce great men and 
strong-hearted women. The intellectual rulers 
of the world have been the offspring of men 
of faith in God. Puritanism and Methodism, 
one fire under different forms of faith, are 
intellectual as well as spiritual, and wherever 
the light is manifest you will see the school as 
well as the church. The first work of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in America was 
the building of a school, and from the hour 
when the first Conference decided to build a 
college until now that work has been going on. 
Before the scattered Anglican societies were 
crystallized into a Church, education claimed 



354 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

the thought of Methodism. In England Prince- 
ton College was gathering its first funds through 
them. Dartmouth, the college in the wilder- 
ness, was being built by them. The Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania was the recipient of their 
bounty. Coordinate with chapel and orphan- 
age building was school building, from that of 
the lowest to that of the highest grade. The 
new Church has resulted in broadening and in- 
creasing new foundations, until all over this 
great continent the merry song of studious 
youth is heard in the halls erected to her faith. 
Mrs. Garrett did for America what Ladies 
Huntingdon, Maxwell, and their friends did in 
England, Scotland, and Wales. Her benefi- 
cence stimulated the Christian women of other 
Churches as well as our own. The best theo- 
logical schools of the Presbyterian Church owe 
their efficiency to the kind heart of woman. 
Hertzog Hall, at New Brunswick, Beatty Hall, 
at Alleghany, and Brown Hall, at Princeton, 
attest woman's interest in ministerial education. 
The first school of the prophets in England, 
and one of our greatest in Evanston, were 
the gifts of women ; and our latest, " The Iliff 
School of Theology at Denver," is the gift of 



ELIZA GARRETT. 355 

Elizabeth IlifT Warren, whose wealth in benefi- 
cent ministry has enriched almost every mis- 
sion of Methodism. 

Garrett Biblical Institute represents the first 
of many splendid benefactions that have come 
to our revered Church through woman's love 
for Christ. Memorials of her sweet charity 
are found in every great school of Methodism. 
When we recall Boston University we remem- 
ber Elizabeth Sleeper Davis, whose honored 
father taught her the path which she trod, 
and Mrs. Paddock, whose bequest will equip 
young men for the ministry. At Dickinson 
the most beautiful building is Bosler Hall, a 
woman's memorial to her husband. At Evans- 
ton Heck Hall stands out in beauty along the 
lake shore, selling of woman's love for God's 
prophets. Evanston and Denver, two of the 
noblest foundations in our Church, were 
founded by Hon. John Evans, nomen clarissime ; 
but all who are familiar with his noble life know 
that in quiet fellowship of charity there aided 
him one of the most cultured and benevolent 
women of our land, Margaret Gray Evans, his 
wife. 

When we recall De Pauw University we not 
24 



356 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

only remember the generous benefaction of the 
princely hearted W. C. De Pauw, but the con- 
tinued kindness of mother with daughter, 
whose name is united to her father's, in Flor- 
ence Hall, now building on the campus. When 
Vanderbilt University is mentioned we all 
know a woman's love was the cause of plant- 
ing the greatest educational center in the 
South, Commodore Vanderbilt's gift through 
his Methodist wife. 

In the highest culture of our Church the in- 
fluence of Methodist women has ever been 
most potential. They have educated young 
men for the ministry, endowed professorships, 
built colleges, and aided in founding great 
universities. Their work in the highest fields 
has reached down to the lowest. We know 
not the children rescued from ignorance by the 
Sabbath school, but we know that Hannah 
Ball, a young Methodist woman, had a Meth- 
odist Sunday school at High Wycombe four- 
teen years before Robert Raikes began his at 
Gloucester ; and that Sophia Cooke, another 
Methodist, was the first who suggested to 
Raikes the Sunday school idea, and actually 
marched with him at the head of his troop of 



ELIZA GARRETT. 357 

ragged urchins. Methodist women originated 
the modern Sabbath school, one of the noblest 
institutions that the modern Church possesses, 
and from the days of Hannah Ball until this 
hour have been most diligent in this charity. 
The modern Sabbath school, with its sys- 
tematic study of God's word, and its deeper 
knowledge of the child's mind, is largely the 
result of that princely layman's thought, Lewis 
Miller, the father-in-law of Edison. He saw 
the rich treasures of knowledge that could yet 
be garnered for the Church, and with the coun- 
sel of his friend, Bishop Vincent, created a 
form of study and worship that is enriching 
every altar in the Church. The germ planted 
in an English village has become a great tree, 
whose leaves are for the healing of many 
nations ; but the genesis of the great move- 
ment came out of the brain and heart of a 
Methodist woman. 

The educational work of women in our 
Church has not been confined to church and 
pulpit, but what a marvelous story of achieve- 
ment in foreign fields ! She has followed, 
side by side with her brothers, into the dense 
seething mass of India, even to the flowery 



353 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

kingdom of China, into the beautiful home 
of the chrysanthemum, and planted schools ; 
and in the lands of the Orient, where the face 
of stranger may not greet the face of woman, 
she has gone and taught the sacred word, re- 
leased intellect bound by superstition, and 
opened a new field for woman. The educa- 
tional work for Methodist women is one of the 
most beautiful pages of modern Church his- 
tory, Woman, in the van a hundred years ago, 
has not lagged behind, but now her sweet 
voice has gone out unto the ends of the earth. 
Her work is not only widely extended, but is 
most carefully done. Do our bishops belt the 
globe in their supervision of the great Church ? 
So do women. Not a year rolls around but 
that Methodist women of wealth make the 
grand tour and personally examine the fruit 
of their sacrifice. Who would have thought, 
a hundred years ago, that women would under- 
take great schools in India and China ; build, 
endow, and supervise hospitals, orphanages, 
and seminaries? Who would have imagined 
ladies of culture going around the world to see 
for themselves the condition of their heathen 
sisters, and walking around the very founda- 



ELIZA GARRETT. 359 

tions they have planted. And yet Methodist 
women, at their own expense, are to-day push- 
ing as far as a pioneer bishop, and fulfilling by 
their work of love the truth of Wesley's words, 
" the world is my parish." What more beauti- 
ful than the tour of Mrs. Davis, the daughter of 
the Hon. Jacob Sleeper, one of the benefactors 
of Boston University — the globe almost belted 
when called to a higher ministry, but continu- 
ing by her charity after death her labor of love 
on a still greater scale. Ever alert to new 
ministries that come in the hour of Provi- 
dence, Methodist women sent out the first 
medical missionaries to the Orient. They 
girded the first young women of America with 
the added grace of healing, so that in healing 
the body they might cure the soul. The 
happy expedient is now the common practice 
of all Christian Churches, and has been one of 
the most potent arms of service to rescue de- 
graded womanhood and elevate her to the 
peership of her Christian sisterhood. If one 
band of women enters one field, another band 
stands equipped to enter another. If Asia 
cries out, "Come over and help us," and 
willing feet run to tell the glad tidings, so when 



360 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

the Ethiopian pleads at our feet in our own 
land, and alien sisters, bound in error, seek our 
shores, for them, too, the school is built, and lov- 
ing hands plan and work to lift them up and 
make a true womanhood. In united love for 
native born and strangers within and without the 
gates, Methodism women build schools. With 
broad catholic faith, calling no man common, 
they rear homes of learning among the ebon 
daughters of the rice field, as well as among the 
olive-hued Indians of the far West, or the erring 
blue-eyed sisters of Mormondom. 

In no Church do we see such devotion as 
among Methodist women. They are at the 
front in all educational movements. Method- 
ism would not only be robbed of her beauty, 
but also of her strength, were they to desert 
her altars. The work of education begun by 
Lady Maxwell, creating by her charity our 
first school, and, dying, continuing her educa- 
tional work by her legacy, is to-day one of the 
most beneficial agencies of modern Christian- 
ity. She has yielded her ministry, but her 
work goes on, yea, multiplied, until you can 
scarcely take up an issue of Methodist journal- 
ism that does not declare some educational 



ELIZA GARRETT. 361 

work for women. She is dotting our fair land 
with training schools ; she is sending the fair 
flowers of our richest womanhood to Mexico, 
South America, and to the dark continent to 
plant the school beneath the cross. Lady 
Maxwell would ride in her carriage four hun- 
dred miles overseeing her schools and chapels; 
but what was the itinerancy of this most godly 
woman compared to the journeys of modern 
Methodist women, who, at their own expense, 
also go around the world to watch over their 
work for God ? 

The evangelistic work of Methodist women 
has found a recognition and a reward of praise, 
but their work in education is a still brighter 
page, for if they have helped build a church, 
hospital, and orphanage, they have done their 
part also in rearing and fostering the schools. 
Mrs. Garrett is representative of a growing 
class of women in our Church who, recognizing 
the efficiency of evangelistic and humanitarian 
work, also hold in highest honor the best in- 
tellectual training. Pioneer in her gift, she has 
been followed, until to-day Methodism leads in 
the new world, not only in churches and com- 
municants, but also in schools, endowments, 



362 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

and students. To-day she has at her altars, in 
a devotion as strong as Mary to her Master, a 
larger number of educated women than any of 
her sister Churches ; and, if every theological, 
medical, and law school and university were 
deprived of their leadership, there are women 
in the Church that could fill their places. 
There never was a time, never a Church, that 
held within its communion so many educated 
women as our Church holds this hour, and the 
reason is as clear as a sunbeam, for over a 
generation ago Methodism opened her colleges 
with equal privileges to girls and boys, and for 
over fifty years has given to woman the same 
privilege as to her brother. 

Methodism founded in 1834, at Macon, Ga., 
the first woman's college in America ; a col- 
lege that has sent out thousands of well edu- 
cated women ; a college that proved fifty years 
before the belated question of the higher edu- 
cation of woman that she has just as clear 
brain and as high capabilities as her brother ; 
a college that, enriched by the benefactions of 
the philanthropist, George I. Seney, is to-day 
doing for the South what Baltimore, Bryn 
Mawr, and Northampton are doing for the 



ELIZA GARRETT. 363 

North. Even Mrs. Garrett was not pioneer in 
her estimate of woman's capacity ; but who 
may not say that in her residence in the South 
she may have seen the elevating influence 
of the college at Macon, and coveted for 
others the blessing that school had given. 
Methodism has given to this nation an army 
of scholarly collegiate women, passing the 
same curriculum and carrying the same di- 
ploma as men ; women that, following from 
the primary school to the university and pro- 
fessional school, are adorning the higher social 
and intellectual life of the nation, elevating the 
home, and bringing to the learned professions 
a dignity and grace they never possessed be- 
fore. Who can fail to see in the higher train- 
ing vouchsafed to woman by the largest Church 
of the republic a preparation for leadership 
in the new ministries that have opened unto 
her? Had the women of to-day no better 
training than their sisters in the Roman 
Church of the past, or in Protestantism a 
hundred years ago, their educational and 
humanitarian work would be a failure. With 
the old school training, so shallow and orna- 
mental, their reforms would have been of none 



364 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

effect. They could not have coped with the 
trained brain of man in the great moral con- 
tests that are waging on the shores of this new 
world ; but with the social leadership of such 
college-bred women as the lamented Lucy 
Webb Hayes, and the brilliant, versatile, and 
sagacious Frances Willard, even far-seeing 
men will find their match and foes worthy of 
their steel. 

Methodism, when it planted its higher 
schools over this nation, did not know what 
future work would be imposed upon woman ; 
but we know and gladly recognize the loving 
hands that, twined around home and country, 
are determined that they shall be kept pure. 
The fruit of higher education, seen in the 
temperance reform of to-day, is the highest 
indication of its need. The splendid leader- 
ship of the educated women of our republic 
has saved our social life, and will not cease its 
activity until the wine cup is banished the na- 
tion, and the corrupter of home gets his 
merited punishment. If there ever was a 
preparation of Providence, it was in the plant- 
ing of colleges for women ; and Methodism 
sneered at, and the college-bred girl ostracized, 



ELIZA GARRETT. 365 

are now acknowledged the salvators of the re- 
public. 

Methodism has been kind to woman, open- 
ing up to her the same advantage in culture 
as man, and she, in return, has been grateful. 
She has thronged her schools and churches, 
and is paying back to all Churches, by her de- 
votion and purity, all the sacrifices made for 
her elevation. Her intelligence, directed by 
love, will accomplish in the future of this nation 
for the Christian Church what we do not dream 
of. If she has stemmed the tide of intemper- 
ance, blasting home and compelling restraints, 
she will continue her work, and her increasing 
intelligence will only make her more efficient. 
Her position will always be with what is best 
in the Church and state, and her advancement 
in training will only tell in increased glory to 
the Church and greater security to the state. 

Methodism, pioneer in spiritual work, giv- 
ing to woman the highest position in any 
branch of the Christian Church, was also pio- 
neer in giving her an equipment to success- 
fully fill her high sphere. Made a class leader 
and permitted to preach by Wesley, her new 
position demanded the best discipline, and the 



366 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

Church gave it. In Mrs. Garrett's benefaction 
we have woman's highest ministry made 
known. Her ignorance is her weakness. In- 
telligence abolishes her servitude. Give equal 
discipline, and the contest of life will not be 
so unequal. Woman has been behind because 
of lack of training. The inequality of the 
sexes is not of nature, but of society. God is 
no respecter of persons. The dower of brains 
is not the special prerogative of either man or 
woman. Mary Somerville can read the stars 
as accurately as a Herschel ; Madame De 
Stael can write as brilliant and accurate a his- 
tory as Macaulay ; George Eliot can charm by 
her pen as wondrously as Walter Scott, the 
wizard of the North ; Victoria rules over the 
world's greatest empire with as much justice 
as any king. The nineteenth century has 
shown that woman can tread the high places of 
thought and action with as clear a brain, as 
pure a heart, and as firm a step as her broth- 
er. If a George Eliot, climbing on the dizzy 
heights loses self control, and is plunged into 
the abyss of atheism, Elizabeth Browning, sweet 
saint, can soar higher, and the song of faith 
sound out clearer the higher she ascends. 



ELIZA GARRETT. 367 

The purpose of this benevolent woman was 
to elevate her sisters, making them more capa- 
ble for their life work, and Methodism, taking 
up her thought by her zeal for higher training, 
has widened her sphere. She has not opened 
a new field, but rather enlarged the old. We 
do not know the proper sphere of woman. 
Her foes say, Give a training fitted to her 
proper sphere ; but who can define that proper 
sphere or the requisite qualities to fill it? 
None may forecast the future of any Amer- 
ican girl, and that is the best training which 
guards in all the avenues of life. The higher 
education is only to fit her to fill spheres of 
duty and rule she has always occupied. She 
is the oldest physician, and among the older 
Hebrews was efficient. Has the profession of 
medicine suffered since she entered the col- 
leges, and to the natural fitness of nurse added 
the higher skill of the physician? Has that 
of law been degraded since her low, sweet 
voice, that " most excellent thing in woman," 
has been heard in courts of justice? Have 
not intemperance and social evils decreased 
since she, in noble might of womanhood, 
assaulted these iniquities? The higher the 



368 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

training of womanhood, the stronger all ele- 
ments of reform ; for, with rarest exception, 
the new endowments have been given to the 
right. A few perplexed in faith have lost 
their moorings in the sea of doubt, but woman 
has held fast her profession, while the number 
of stranded souls will not compare with those 
of men who have dared, doubted, and failed. 
We may not measure the educated woman 
by the negative faith held by a small minority 
in the suffrage movement and in the temper- 
ance cause, nor by the utter materialism of 
the Russian girl, who, entering the university, 
only comes out a Nihilist. The wrongs 
of humanity have driven them in revolt 
against the Church, because they have seen 
it allied to the most awful oppression, and 
giving its sacred offices to the basest inhu- 
manity. Woman, seeing slavery, intemper- 
ance, and despotism guerdoned by Church and 
religion, spurned the sacred house and its 
guides and cleft her own way through the for- 
est of doubt. Where one educated woman has 
sold her creed, you will find a dozen men bar- 
ter convictions. In all the sad struggles when 
woman has seen Christ she has been drawn to 



ELIZA GARRETT. 369 

him, and the devotion of the most cultured is 
not less than that of her less favored sisters. 
Methodism, pioneer in higher training, has no 
apology for her work, and her example, fol- 
lowed to-day by all the Churches, is the best 
commendation of her work. The noble women 
it has produced, adorning society from the 
White House to the humbler home, form a suf- 
ficient refutation to the charge that woman 
should not receive the same training as man. 
The homes musical with the voices of children, 
rich in a refined hospitality, versatile in minis- 
try of blessing, thronging with manly sons and 
obedient daughters, are a rebuke to the state- 
ment that a higher training unfits for home 
life and destroys the home maker. 

Susannah Wesley, the first of the new nobil- 
ity, was the mother of a large family. Her 
attainments did not rob her of domestic grace, 
but better fitted her for maternal duties. Her 
intellectual graces only girded her for the train- 
ing of her family, whose wonderful gifts are 
her best fruit, and the finest illustration of the 
new culture. 

Mrs. Garrett not only bestowed the largest 
gift that an American Church has received 



370 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

from clerical culture, but the hour of its ac- 
ceptance was the best. If it had come earlier, 
it would not have been so serviceable ; had it 
come later, it would have been limited in bless- 
ing. Two elements have ever contended, 
from the days of Tertullian, in God's ministry, 
one honoring and the other deprecating a 
special training for the clergy, and Methodism 
was in danger of reading in her educational de- 
feats a false interpretation of God's will con- 
cerning her. There was a danger lest her 
leaders should narrow their equipment and 
throw off the scholar's gown so gracefully worn 
by the first Methodist preachers. It is so easy 
for lazy men, or those whose work is done, to 
find a shield for imbecility in God's prov- 
idence, and that is what some are ready to do. 
It was one of this class that rose up in a 
western Conference, pending an educational 
discussion, and said he thanked God he had 
never entered a college or university. It was 
Bishop Ames, presiding, who asked him if he 
meant to be thankful for his ignorance, and 
when he said, " You can so understand it," 
calmly replied, " Well, my brother, you have a 
great deal to be thankful for." When at college 



ELIZA GARRETT. 37 1 

a friend, burning with the love, of God wrote 
for a position in a Conference, and the elder, 
learning he was a college graduate, denied 
his request in such terms that it made him 
weep. In many Conferences we have suffered, 
even leaders saying, " We cannot use college 
men in our Conference." College men can 
rarely be used for Conference politics ; they 
can be used for foreign mission fields, and none 
others are accepted. Even Bishop Taylor de- 
mands a fitness for the illiterate Africans that 
some Conferences do not demand. Never was 
there an age when we needed a well-trained 
ministry more than at present. Small brained 
men, content with the most limited learning, 
will not do, and especially among the working 
classes. You may enter our industrial estab- 
lishments in the great cities and you will find 
the skilled workman conversant with social 
questions and familiar with the latest thought 
on religious and economical themes. He reads 
not only the Penny Journal, but Henry George 
and the Review of Reviews ; and to send men 
of no training to that class is simply to vacate 
our pews. 

Methodism has not reached up to the high 
25 



372 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

conception of ministerial fitness in the mind 
of Mrs. Garrett. It is making preparation 
too easy, and is receiving too many men 
without training. Methodism -to-day can gain 
what it seeks for ; it can put its standard 
where this woman held it should be placed, 
and young men will march up to it. The 
young man that is willing to enter the Chris- 
tian ministry to-day without the best equip- 
ment lacks the first element of success— abil- 
ity to see his want of ability. 

Mrs. Garrett's benevolence made possible a 
preparation that came none too soon. The 
early itinerants were students under great diffi- 
culties. Wrote Justice McLean of the United 
States Supreme Court, " It is a matter of as- 
tonishment to many who have become inti- 
mate with Methodist preachers that men who 
traveled frontier circuits, where books were 
scarce and the preaching places remote from 
each other, could have made such progress as 
they actually have done in useful knowledge." 
We cannot minify the itinerants ; we cannot 
magnify their difficulties. They lived among 
books, every saddlebag was a circulating li- 
brary ; and they put into Methodist homes a 



ELIZA GARRETT. 373 

hundredfold more of Methodist literature than 
we, their successors, are doing to-day. Every 
parsonage was a bookstore, and every preach- 
er a vender of Wesleyan literature. Mary 
Fletcher and Katharine Livingston were led to 



■&* 



Christ through books received through serv- 
ants who had obtained them from the minister. 
Mrs. General Russell, on the frontier of Vir- 
ginia, read Fletcher's works and found Christ. 

Our fathers studied hard, and not in vain, 
and their equipment may not be despised, but 
they felt the need of better facilities, and the 
work of this noble woman made such possible 
for their children. 

Mrs. Garrett not only provided that her es- 
tate should be consecrated to ministerial edu- 
cation, but confirmed in life her wish in death. 
When she made her will she began to carry it 
into effect. She summoned the best legal 
talent among her friends, counseled with 
Judge Goodrich, and secured a charter " for 
the erection, furnishing, and endowment of a 
1 Theological Institution for the Methodist 
Episcopal Church,' to be called ' The Garrett 
Biblical Institute.' " She prepared her plans, 
secured a location, and aided in the erection of 



374 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

a temporary structure, and while so engaged 
made further preparation for a permanent build- 
ing. She was in middle life, and had the prospect 
of a lengthened day when she matured her 
plans to aid God's ministry. Mrs. Garrett was 
wise, for death, that begins our plans, often de- 
feats them. It is a very foolish method to 
hold on to your stewardship and then expect 
your successors to honor it for you. People 
who will not in life discharge their trust, do 
not usually find their friends any more eager 
to carry out their wishes in death. Mrs. Gar- 
rett made her will in health, and then began to 
make available its contents ; instead of keeping 
her wish, she declared it ; instead of waiting 
until death to pay over the rents of the estate, 
she began at once ; instead of allowing others 
to make her plans, she counselled and provided, 
and in full maturity of strength made her 
offer to the General Conference of the Church, 
and saw the beginnings of the work that made 
Bishop Clark write, " The name of Eliza Gar- 
rett will be honored while the world endures. 
As time shall develop the good results and the 
far-reaching influence of the institution found- 
ed by her munificence, it will be ranked by 



ELIZA GARRETT. 375 

faithful historians with the names of Brown 
and Girard, Harvard and Yale. It will be 
singular in American history as that of the 
first female in our country who has attained so 
distinguished a rank by an act of Christian phi- 
lantrophy." Mrs. Garrett's method is the only 
true way. Honor your own stewardship, be 
the almoner of your own charity, and enjoy the 
fruits of your labor while you live. In these 
days of legal complication no man can be sure 
his last testament will be carried out. If the 
will of Samuel J. Tilden, one of America's 
most learned lawyers, could not stand, what 
security for post-mortem trusts? 

This noble woman not only laid out her 
plans, but, when disaster by fire reduced the 
income of her estate, she reduced her expendi- 
ture and only allowed herself four hundred 
dollars out of it, and gave half of that for relig- 
ious uses. She was rich in money, but richer 
in charity; strong in purpose, but stronger in 
self-denial. Her self-denial places her with 
Lady Huntingdon and Mary Fletcher, who 
kept down their expenses to the lowest esti- 
mate so that they might do more good for 
Christ. Winning, indeed, is that love consecra- 



376 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

ting talents of gold to God's service, but more 
beautiful that stern sacrifice to strengthen the 
foundation she had laid. Mrs. Garrett is re- 
membered not only because of her gift, but 
also for her devotion and piety. She had the 
same Christly spirit that we see at the begin- 
nings of Methodism. The experience that 
filled her heart was like that of Lady Maxwell, 
whose gifts to education are not as noted as 
her piety. Her piety ran in a deep channel ; 
her Scottish sister said, " I have no ecstatic joy, 
but a divine serenity, a haven of silent love, a 
sinking into God." " Eliza Garrett," said her 
biographer, " was characterized by a steady 
devotion to the service of God and by a strict 
observance of the rules of the Church, together 
with a firm and constant fidelity to its interests ; 
a beautiful consistency of profession and con- 
duct distinguished her demeanor both as a 
Christian and in the social circle. She was 
always benevolent in proportion to her avail- 
able means, but her charities were unostenta- 
tious. With her own hands she labored for 
the poor, and her feet often led her to their 
habitations on errands of mercy." Her char- 
acter evokes praise, as well as her works, in the 



ELIZA GARRETT. 377 

gates ; indeed, the works are the fruit of her 
faith. The lofty purpose in life, the realization 
of the truth that " no man liveth unto him- 
self," and the final effort crystallizing into a 
deathless deed, unfold a nature that possesses 
more than ordinary virtues. Her life is not all 
contained in the definition, " a rich woman ; " 
it transcends and includes purity, love, and 
sacrifice. The inner virtues that create godly 
character are more than the environments of 
wealth, for they make up true womanhood. 
The rarer qualities of a Christian were her 
dower before she came into possession of 
wealth. In a training for years through sorrow, 
earthly loss,and bereavement, she had found her 
true position, and when circumstances changed, 
and wealth and position were her privilege, and 
she stood in social leadership in Chicago, her 
husband a man of largest fortune and of highest 
municipal estate, this woman remained un- 
changed. The surrender of her boys to the di- 
vine Father had turned her heart heavenward ; 
the loss of earthly riches had drawn her from 
the world ; and so, when prosperity came back, 
she, like Job, developed holier gifts, and her 
greater power was made the means of a wider 



37§ . EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

stewardship. In the midst of her beneficence, 
ere the corner stone could be laid of the new 
hall of theology on the campus of North- 
western University, Eliza Garrett suddenly 
laid down her earthly ministry and entered into 
rest. 

On the Sabbath of November 18, 1855, she 
worshiped God in his earthly sanctuary, ap- 
parently in perfect health, and on the fol- 
lowing Thursday the service of time was 
ended, and in her fifty-first year Eliza Garrett 
entered the Church of eternity. Her death, 
like that of other benefactors of our Church, was 
in harmony with her life. In ministry of bless- 
ing she had honored her Master, and the sweet 
fruition of her faith touched, in antepast, her 
lips as she exclaimed in glorious triumph with 
latest breath, " Bless the Lord, O my soul." 

May we not say, " Blessed of the Lord, and 
in death her works follow her." 

Stevens, the historian of Methodism, says, 
" She has the honor of having made the largest 
pecuniary benefaction to Methodism of any 
woman in its history, if not, indeed, of any 
woman in the history of Protestantism. " She 
opened a new channel for Christian charity 



ELIZA GARRETT. 379 

which many godly women have entered ; and, 
while her benefaction is a special blessing to 
Methodism, it is also a splendid example that 
has been followed by other Churches. 

Methodism as an educational movement has 
not spent its force, but is increasing in effi- 
ciency every day. The Sabbath school has 
been widened and made a nursery of the 
Church through Bishop Vincent more than 
through any other man. 

The Chautauqua Assembly is but the root 
of the higher movement upon which univer- 
sity extension is engrafted, and the modern 
camp meeting but the facile means of trans- 
mitting the new culture over the land. In the 
transition of the camp meeting into a Chau- 
tauqua Assembly we see the correlation of 
spiritual forces with intellectual. None can 
estimate the effect of this movement upon 
modern life. It has awakened thought and in- 
terest in higher culture among the people, and 
reacted in a blessing even upon our universi- 
ties, bringing them more closely in touch with 
our social life. It is making culture demo- 
cratic, and is but a return to the older form of 
university life, when culture was severely popu- 



380 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

lar, and the youth of all classes could come in 
contact with the highest minds. As one broad- 
ened the spiritual life, and for the rust and 
gloom of the crypt and altar gave the sweet 
fragrance of the forest pine and light of sun-lit 
dome, so the other drew the student out of the 
recluse, and in the higher walk of humanity 
developed a nobler nature than that formed in 
college hall or monastery cell. It is a new de- 
parture, and yet Abelard observed the same 
method when he lectured in the wilderness. 
He drew thousands of young men to his desert 
retreat in Champagne. He was their oracle, 
and they listened in the grove to his wonderful 
words. It is not only books that make "a col- 
lege. Garfield never uttered a stronger truth 
than when he said, " Put Mark Hopkins at one 
end of a log and a student at the other, and you 
have a first-class college." The personality of 
the teacher is of more value than the imper- 
sonal book. 

The renaissance through which we are pass- 
ing is only a revival of the classic Greek mode, 
when teacher and scholar walked and talked in 
the grove. Plato taught his sublime philos- 
ophy in the grove, and if it is sweet to-day it is 



ELIZA GARRETT. 38 I 

because the fragrance of the fields lingers in it. 
It is a good sign when men can worship God 
and learn of his works in his own temple. 

" Ah, why should we in the world's riper years, 
Neglect God's ancient sanctuaries, and adore only among 
The crowd, and under roof that our frail hands have 
reared ? " 

It presages only good when you can bring cul- 
ture down to the people. The more men that 
you. can fill with lofty thoughts and high ideals, 
the greater the security of our nation. In the 
earlier places of worship we have the means of 
conferring as great a blessing to the intellect 
of to-day as we did in the past to the heart. 

Mrs. Garrett provided for the education of 
the clergy. She wanted the teachers taught, 
that they could instruct the people. She 
planted for the future, and her ministry was on 
the line of future success ; for in the struggle 
of erring creeds and ancient superstition in our 
midst for the supremacy we cannot be too 
careful in the discipline of youth. The future 
of this nation will be largely in the hands of 
men and women who control its thought. A 
mighty responsibility rests upon Methodism. 
In her tolerant catholic fold the children of all 



382 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

nationalities are gathering, and it becomes a 
grave question how we shall train them. Con- 
version is only the beginning; education must 
follow. The culture of leadership must be 
guarded, or our very increase will be our weak- 
ness. The peasant class in the Irish priest- 
hood to-day, with but little training above their 
followers, is one of the grave causes of Ireland's 
weakness. To-day America is suffering for the 
want of a larger class of cultivated men. The 
commercial spirit has reduced the average, 
making it lower than it was a hundred years 
ago. 

Methodism, holding the moral leadership in 
the nation, has a great responsibility and a great 
opportunity. The cultivated mind will rule, 
and the ascendancy of Methodism will come 
largely out of her schools. Her past has been 
glorious ; in this nation her intellectual premier- 
ship cannot be contested. In the last Brittan- 
nica statistics declare Methodism leading in the 
United States in number of institutions, en- 
dowments, and students. We look back over 
a century, when our first efforts were but 
ashes, when universities and colleges were 
closed against the youth of our Church, and 



ELIZA GARRETT. 383 

to-day the obscure and persecuted sect has 
marched to the front, and, leading in the num- 
ber of churches and communicants, is also 
greatest in her schools. If our evangelistic 
work is a wonder, our educational work is a 
greater surprise. How the list of benefactors 
swell, and what princely gifts from its mem- 
bers and friends ! For Boston University, 
Isaac Rich, a poor fisher lad, gives over a mil- 
lion, and Sleeper and Claflin their hundreds of 
thousands. Wesleyan, at Middletown, has its 
benefactors in Seney, Ayers, Hoyt, Judd, and 
Baker, until millions flow into its coffers. Drew 
Seminary has over half a million from its gener- 
ous founder. The Remington brothers make 
Syracuse a great blessing, and Crouse adds to its 
halls a memorial to his wife in the finest col- 
lege building in America. Dickinson has its 
friends, and should have still more. We turn 
West, and De Pauw, at Greencastle, is receiving 
several millions. Evanston, with Evans, Hobbs, 
Deering, Lunt, and Gammon, has its millions. 
Vanderbilt, at Nashville, the benefaction of 
Commodore Vanderbilt, with its broad facili- 
ties, is the greatest school of the South. Time 
fails to tell of the millions that have been 



384 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

poured out for education by Methodist men 
and women. The wildest enthusiast a century 
ago would not have dreamed of such a result. 
The wildest Utopian would not have said that 
out of the ashes of Cokesbury College there 
would rise such a glory of culture as Method- 
ism has given to these shores. Persecuted and 
stoned for their faith, the very localities of per- 
secution are almost captured by her creed. 
Cast out and defamed as illiterate, the very 
States in which they were slandered are the 
places where they control the intellect. To-day 
the Church of the pioneer has conquered her 
place, and her children are welcome at all col- 
leges ; and there is not one of any national re- 
pute that has not Methodism represented in its 
professoriate. No brighter minds of to-day 
are found in the higher literary circles of the 
nation than the children and the descendants 
of those who were expelled the colleges of 
Britain, and denied even permission to rear a 
school on these shores. Harvard, most bitter 
against the new faith, calls its children to her 
chairs. Yale, excluding its adherents and ex- 
pelling their children, calls its bishops to lec- 
ture and its ministers to occupy its chairs. In 



ELIZA GARRETT. 385 

the government schools, from the Smithson- 
ian to the lowest grade, you will find to-day 
the children of the rejected Church ruling by 
grace of culture and the finer grace of heart, 
that need only be known to be appreciated. 
Nor has the Church reached her full develop- 
ment in this work. There is a reserve power 
in Methodism that has not yet been touched. 
Her resources are not exhausted, nor her am- 
bition satisfied. If in the path of the early 
evangel new churches are springing up, so 
with equal speed the school is being planted, 
until almost evely w T eek witnesses some new 
foundation, endowment, or scholarship given to 
the Church. 

It is true that many of them are not of the 
highest grade, except in name, but our women's 
colleges are the very best. The work of 
Methodism for woman has always been of the 
best, and the influences that gave her religious 
liberty in the great revival have made most 
efficient our schools for women. The danger 
of our schools to-day is in their want of ag- 
gressive piety. There is peril lest the faith 
which created them is not dissipated in them. 
Methodism tolerant yet has convictions, and 



386 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

the colleges banishing all allusion to our faith 
should be changed. It is no time for hesitating 
speech in the college. If Methodism is the 
best interpretation of God's word, and its 
teachings the best working theory of life, 
and God has set his favor on it as no other 
Church, then the youth in our schools should 
know of it, either to accept or reject it. We 
honor the Presbyterian and Episcopal Churches 
for teaching their confessions ; aye, we praise 
the Roman Church for guarding the convic- 
tions of those committed to her care. Meth- 
odism has a history reading Mke a romance of 
Providence, and a creed that has built up al- 
ready the foremost Church of the world's fore- 
most race. The austerities of Kingswood, 
compelling the pupils to rise at four o'clock 
in the morning and spend an hour in prayer, 
or the severity of Cokesbury, expelling a boy 
for mischievous conduct, need not be repeated ; 
but our schools owe it to the Church that 
planted them that they teach its faith. Save 
Ohio Wesleyan University, there is scarcely 
to-day any difference between the Methodist 
schools and the most secular institutions in the 
republic. Under the words, " Not Sectarian," 



ELIZA GARRETT. 387 

Christ has been ignored, and our loved Church 
made an open door to lead our best youth out 
into the world. The establishment of chairs 
for the literary study of the Bible is a return; 
but we must go back still further, and in the 
training of the intellect complete the equip- 
ment by a knowledge of that faith which God 
has so signally honored. No subscriptions to 
creed nor compulsions of intellect dare be de- 
manded, " we having bin burnt in the hand 
in that kind before," as the old Puritan said. 
Methodism, expelled the national universities 
of England because of its faith, would never 
repeat what it condemns, and in intolerance 
rebuke its broad charity, that has ever been 
its glory. But if as a society it has wrought 
the greatest moral revolution of the Anglo- 
Saxon race, as historians like Lecky and 
Buckle declare, then a knowledge of its teach- 
ings is worthy a place with the history of 
Rome or Greece. If the testimonies of its 
moral power are what men like Newman and 
Martineau and Green declare, then the prin- 
ciples that held back the Anglo-Saxon race 
from revolt against the Cross will preserve it 

in the future, and it is only economic wisdom 
26 



3&8 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

to teach it ; for, the salvation of the past, it will 
be the freedom of the future. The college 
must keep open all the avenues of knowledge, 
and give to the thoughtful youth, as part of 
his discipline, those principles that have been 
tested and found of value. Methodism has an 
experience, a history, and it should be a part 
of the curriculum in every college ; for our 
higher schools, our glory, are our weakness, 
teaching all knowledge but that of the Church, 
a knowledge of whose wonderous works, being 
given, would hold as by fetters of steel its edu- 
cated youth to its altars. 

Eliza Garrett's benefaction was only an- 
other stream of blessing that is still issuing 
from Oxford University and enriching mod- 
ern life ; only another means to lift up 
Methodism to the scholarly grade of its hon- 
ored leaders, John and Charles Wesley, the 
former of whom was a fellow of Christ Church 
College, Oxford, and the latter vice-rector of 
the university ; and only another help to put 
these men right before the Church of the past, 
and reverse the decision of erring and wicked 
men concerning their society. Already their 
position has changed. Time is the final ar- 



ELIZA GARRETT. 389 

biter, and his decisions at last are just, how- 
ever false the judgment of the passing hour. 
Men usually gain their true place if they can 
only wait. The truth bearer may be called 
heretical to-day, but the morrow will give him 
his true name. He may be condemned to-day ; 
he will be acquitted to-morrow. Bruno stands 
in Rome to-day, although he was burned cen- 
turies ago, and the papacy must look at him ; 
she cannot turn the averted eye ; she must look 
on him whom she burnt. Brave Admiral Coligny 
stands in Paris to-day, and Rome must see 
the Huguenots in him, and their remembrance 
is grievous unto her. Servetus writes to-day 
his own memoir, and Calvin and his children 
must look on, but they cannot change it. 
" What I have written I have written." Priest- 
ley stands in Birmingham to-day ; those savage 
Britons tore his roof down from over his head, 
and he fled to America to enrich the New 
World with his scientific thought ; and Britain's 
children built his statue to confess her shame. 
The Anglican Church cast out as unworthy the 
Wesley brothers a century ago ; now the ex- 
pelled sons are called loyal Churchmen, and 
their works published as presbyters of the 



390 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

Church of England, and the rejected ministers 
held in highest honor. Yea, in the Valhalla 
of Britain's great dead, Dean Stanley, sweet 
saint of the Church catholic, has placed a tab- 
let to their memory, and from the walls of 
Westminster Abbey John and Charles Wesley, 
being dead, yet speak. Could the venerable 
bishops that silenced them, and the rector 
that expelled them, come back and march 
down the aisles of the old minster and see 
their calm faces looking down on them, and 
the scene of their field preaching carved on 
the enduring marble, they would tear their 
Oxford gowns in shreds. But it is too late. 
The voices of anathema are silent ; the liter- 
ature of defamation in our theological libraries 
may be taken down. It was all in vain that 
pens were dipped in the gall of persecution, 
and to no purpose. Truth has conquered ; let 
bigot and persecutor sleep. The national 
universities will yet be glad to recognize the 
rare scholarship of these brothers, as the 
national Church their piety. Christ Church 
College will yet have some broad mind and 
catholic heart like Stanley's who will yet honor 
its most distinguished scholars : and we would 



ELIZA GARRETT. 39 1 

not be surprised if in the near future the statue 
of Wesley would stand in the very college of 
its most distinguished student. Already the 
old university has broadened its privileges, and, 
after closing the doors for seventy-five years, 
the sons of Wesley are permitted to enter the 
college in which he received his training ; and 
in the high and accurate scholarship of the 
Moultons and others the sons of the Wesley- 
ans still reflect honor on the name of their 
leader. 

In England Methodism has gone back to 
Oxford and Cambridge, and the doors closed 
against the new faith have been opened, and 
its sons and daughters made welcome. In 
America the oldest seats no longer repel but 
invite the youth of our Church, and the same 
intellectual vigor of the fathers is seen in their 
children as they bear away in graceful triumph 
a large share of academic honors. But the 
colleges of the oldest Churches are not only 
open to the children of the youngest Church 
of the republic, but the pioneer Church has 
laid plans for a new work that in the future 
will be the greatest blessing conferred upon 
our own loved America ; an educational center 



392 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

that, drawing in affiliation to it all secondary 
schools of the Church, will find in their federa- 
tion a strength that is now wanting and an 
outlet that is now closed — the American Uni- 
versity at Washington. 

As in the first school a woman's faith and 
love united to give Kingswood to the Church, 
so the first offering toward the establishment 
of this, the greatest work of Methodism, was 
the gift of a woman. When one of the most 
beautiful sites overlooking the capital of the 
nation was available, and her honored husband 
doubted, Catherine Hurst, full of faith in the 
great work, made the first contribution ; and 
what will yet be a boon of greatest value to 
Protestantism and the republic became an as- 
sured fact. Herself a woman of high culture 
and an authoress, this deed of love was almost 
the last act of her beautiful life, that, crowned 
so early, has left sadness in so many hearts. 
Two great schools have been planted at Wash- 
ington, and a woman's gift was their begin- 
ning. Both inaugurated by Churches that are 
similar in compact, organization, zeal, and en- 
ergy, Rome and Methodism, the oldest and 
youngest Churches, plant their highest seat at 



ELIZA GARRETT. 393 

the center of the republic. Rome, weakest 
of all Churches in higher foundations, seeks 
by this new movement to recover her ground 
lost in the past. Methodism, rich in second- 
ary schools, seeks to complete her system of 
training by opening up the highest avenues to 
thought. Both Churches have planted at the 
highest point — the political center of the na- 
tion and the strategic point of the New 
World. Here Romanism and Methodism are 
striving for the mastery of the higher thought 
of the great republic. Representative of op- 
posite thought and idea, in friendly rivalry 
they contend. How different the aspirations 
of these two great schools ! Rome holds Church 
above the State, but Methodism entirely sepa- 
rates them. One teaches, in the words of Pius 
IX, that " force is inherent in the Church;" 
the other, " My kingdom is not of this world," 
and no earthly power is enforced. One, founded 
on the birthday of Thomas Aquinas, holds his 
precepts as authority, teaching that ''dissent 
and heresy must be put down by the sword." 
The other, in the name of its leader, Wesley, 
has never used the sword, and dare not, by its 
creed. Rome builds alone, not consenting 



394 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

with any who bear a different Christian name ; 
but Methodism, in fellowship with the highest 
unity of truth, unites in her rule the Episco- 
palian, Presbyterian, and Baptist, fulfilling in 
her highest works the words of Wesley, " I de- 
sire a league offensive and defensive with 
every soldier of Christ/' In the former an 
Italian prince and prelate gives the law, and its 
professoriate is filled with men of foreign birth 
and idea; in the latter the President of the 
nation, its highest judiciary and legislation, 
share in its government. One is a purely 
clerical foundation, and dominated by priestly 
influence ; in the other lay and clerical agency 
unite in equal privilege. In the one only man 
shares the right of rule ; in the other woman is 
represented in the board of trustees. Rome 
looks backward, the traditions of the past be- 
ing its highest authority. Methodism looks 
forward, and, like Pascal, accepting the past as 
the childhood of humanity, it honors its wis- 
dom, but allows no control. 

Both have begun a work that Washington 
and his immediate successors desired, and the 
future alone will determine their influence 
upon the New World. Both will be a blessing 



ELIZA GARRETT. 395 

to the republic, for the deeper the search after 
truth, the more secure the stability of Church 
and State. Contact with free institutions at 
the highest center cannot fail unconsciously to 
influence Rome. If both are true to the 
truth, tolerant and inviting deepest research, 
freedom of thought will be honored of the 
nation ; but if blinds are put on knowledge 
and the truth is fettered, only revolt will take 
place, and the seats will be vacated by the 
students, as those of Paris left its university to 
follow Abelard to his college in the desert. 
Rome built the great universities of the past, 
the oldest seats of the Anglo-Saxon family ; 
but, disloyal to the truth, in the break of the 
Saxon from her erring creed her schools passed 
over to the reformers, and to-day are most alien 
to her creed. Her example is a warning to all 
men who would put down the truth in unright- 
eousness, limit the fullest inquiry, or shackle 
the mind of man. 

None may cast the horoscope of the new 
century. Some of the most hallowed tradi- 
tions of the past have been cast aside, and 
others are in the balance ; but a nation that 
bulwarks its borders with schools and universi- 



396 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

ties is but adding fortresses to make it more 
secure, for national stability depends not upon 
material treasures, but upon ideas. They are 
a protection more helpful than armies or na- 
vies. America's strength depends on the two 
ideas that controlled the wise beneficence of 
Eliza Garrett : an educated womanhood and 
an educated ministry. As John Lord says, 
"What is home when women are ignorant, 
stupid, and slavish? What glitter or artistic 
splendor can make home attractive when 
women are mere butterflies or slaves with 
gilded fetters? Deprive women of education, 
and especially of that respect which Christian 
chivalry inspires, and they cannot rise to be 
the equal companions of men. They are sim- 
ply their victims or their slaves. What is a 
home where women are treated as inferiors? 
No home can be attractive where women have 
no resources outside of domestic duties, unless 
educated to some art or something calculated 
to draw out their energies and higher faculties, 
by which they win the respect and admiration 
not of men only, but of their own sex." So of 
a nation with a spiritual leadership narrow and 
illiterate. What prophecy for a nation when 



ELIZA GARRETT. 397 

those called to lead in holiest vocation are be- 
low the pew in intelligence ? Ignorance soon 
begets superstition, and the darkened mind be- 
comes the erring heart. The desertion of in- 
telligence from the cross in southern Europe 
is because of an ignorant clergy. The great- 
est barrier to-day in the Old World and in 
South America is found in the illiteracy of the 
clergy. The wage-earner of the Continent has 
deserted en masse the fellowship of Christ, the 
son of the carpenter, the founder of their guilds, 
because the wage-earner was only a slave until 
the son of a Galilean carpenter, giving him a 
higher liberty, created for him a lower freedom. 
Eliza Garrett's name is immortal. She 
linked it to the noblest service for Christ, and 
did what she could to prepare men to battle 
with ignorance and sin, that have too long held 
them in chains. In the first educational work 
of the Church, and in the latest, woman's heart 
and hand have blended. By her wise benef- 
icence the first foundation was created, and 
her ministry continues. The increasing host 
of Methodist women is as active now as when 
Ladies Huntingdon, Maxwell, Chesterfield, and 
their sisters of the English nobility gave their 



398 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

time and money to build the schools of the 
infant Church. Ever alert to the changing 
condition of society, they are creating new 
forms of service, entering new doors of oppor- 
tunity, and molding by their loving influence 
modern life into a higher form. The ideal 
woman that our revered Church would de- 
velop is a lofty type ; not the creature trained 
to be a dancer or player ; not the frivolous 
being girded with accomplishments to make 
her shine in the crowd, nor the impotent child 
unable to cooperate with her brothers in the 
contests of life, nor the social slave bearing its 
drudgery ; but a woman of skilled hand, trained 
intellect, and pure heart; the helpmeet of man 
in mutual cooperation, filling with equal grace 
and dignity the sacred ministry of home, shar- 
ing its joys and sorrows; uniting with him in 
the elevation of society ; his peer in possession 
of all its prerogatives, his coadjutrix in all of 
its responsibilities ; and blending with her 
moral beauty and efficient service in that 
highest of all compacts, the ecclesia of God, 
and by her lofty character, enriched by the 
winning beauty of holiness, creating an ideal 
womanhood, commanding man's highest de- 



ELIZA GARRETT. 399 

fense in the home, purifying and transforming 
society, and by her angel ministry receiving 
the smile of God, which is her noblest reward. 
This lofty ideal filled the mind of Methodism 
over half a century ago when it founded the 
first college for the higher education of woman, 
not only in this republic, but in the world. 
It was Methodism's sublime faith in the pos- 
sibilities of woman that dared, in an age when 
the educated woman was sneered at, build and 
endow a college giving her as complete an 
equipment as her brother. It was that same 
faith that opened the doors of her highest 
schools unto them, establishing a precedent 
that has opened many of our oldest colleges, 
and will yet open all ; for woman's excep- 
tional position in the New World will not be 
vacated, nor the new spheres be surrendered. 
The cultivated woman has come to stay ; and 
she is not going to be a mere passive spectator 
of the changes going on in modern life. She 
is going to use her brain, heart, and home. 
She is not going to allow the pitfalls of society 
to engulf, nor weak and erring men to wreck, 
her home. Even in the hallowed precincts of 
the fireside she will not sit down and weep 



400 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

over the wrecks that are tossed back upon her 
breast, but will yet march out, and by the 
might of intelligence and moral virtue compel 
the suppression of all those evils which, wreck- 
ing the home, destroy the nation. Hail to the 
women that, suffering at the fireside, dare to 
come out and say to their brothers binding fast 
the chains of evil, Thou shalt not ! Hail to the 
women that in the name of home say by all 
the might of human law, Thus far shall human 
freedom be given, but no farther ! All hail to 
the women that, filled with love of home, 
country, and God, will resist by every holy en- 
deavor the progress of ideas that only poison, 
and the advance of measures which only cor- 
rupt ! 

Methodism has no dread of the educated 
woman. Already the home, elevated by her 
intelligent rule, has given to Church and State 
a noble manhood. Already her potent spell 
has arrested issues that would have destroyed 
our social life and subverted the very liberties 
that are our protection. Holding up the 
brotherhood of America to the compulsion of 
self-rule in her protection of the individal, she 
has made more secure the State, and kept 



ELIZA GARRETT. 40 1 

back the despotism that ever issues out of 
wild liberty. 

We greet with gladness the advance of the 
great host of well trained women in our repub- 
lic, and say most willingly, Come up higher ; 
for, if what has already been done in the crea- 
tion of a purer social life by her work is a 
prophecy of what will yet be done, who is man 
that he may keep back the new nobility of 
American womanhood from a still further 
ministry of the republic? We welcome with 
joy all new foundations reared by women or 
by men for the higher training of women ; for, 
if the first fruit that has enriched the Church 
of our love is a promise of the intellectual and 
moral harvest that will yet be gathered, we 
say, Build more women's colleges, for the 
riches of the service of American womanhood 
cannot be computed. 

Eliza Garrett was the successor of that band 
of holy women who have consecrated intelli- 
gence, wealth, and position to the service of 
God and his Church. The pioneer woman of 
wealth in America to strengthen by her offer- 
ing the sacred office of the ministry, she is a 
noble example of what a Christian woman blest 



402 EDUCATIONAL WORK. 

with wealth can accomplish. She is the com- 
mendation of all those who have followed her 
path, and an awful rebuke to those who, blest 
with large means and without natural depend- 
ents, yet hold to their gold, or use it for self- 
aggrandizement. She speaks to-day in the 
memorial that bears her name. She lives to- 
day in the cultured ministry that annually 
come out of her school, and shares with them 
the reward of saving men, as by the help of 
her benediction they are made more efficient 
servants of Christ. Her life, molded by deep 
sorrow and bereavement, refined by the fire of 
affliction, made strong and beneficent by the 
kind hand of Providence, has closed ; but the 
perfume of its holiness, sacrifice, and generos- 
ity will linger as a hallowed fragrance in the 
Church of Christ, and her noble deed of char- 
ity, repeating blessing age after age, will con- 
tinue to make sweeter her life as it goes on in 
our Father's house above. 



ftfyfliodigni in the White yonge at 
Wagpjjfon. 



27 



" Lucy Webb Hayes is, humanly speaking, the world's 
greatest loss in 1889. How few, indeed, has it to lose like her, 
ideal woman that she was of home and Church and State ! 
Total abstinence has never had such a standard bearer as 
this noble woman, and centuries from now, when other inci- 
dents in our national life at this pei-iod shall be recalled but 
dimly, her steadfast adherence to the truest hospitality will 
be told as a memorial of her." — Frances E. Willard. 

" There are in this rude, stunning tide 

Of human care and crime, 
With whom the melodies abide 

Of the everlasting chime, 
Who carry music in their heart, 
Through dusty lane and wrangling mart, 
Plying their daily toil with busier feet, 
Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat." — 

John Keble. 

11 A PERFECT woman nobly planned 
To warn, to comfort, and command, 

And yet a spirit still and bright 

With something of an angel light." — Wordsworth. 

" Grace was in all her footsteps, heaven in her eye, 
In every gesture dignity and love." — Milton. 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 

\T THEN a Christian woman entered Bos- 
* * ton a gifted poet rung out these words 
of greeting : 

" Look in our eyes ; your welcome awaits you there, 
North, south, east, west, from all and everywhere." 

The poet was Oliver Wendell Holmes, and 
the woman was Lucy Webb Hayes, whose 
beautiful life and ministry have so lately closed. 
The nearness of a great character often pre- 
vents a correct estimate of its value. Time 
touches every name ; some to brighten, and 
some to shadow. The increasing years will 
add luster to this name, for it was so allied to 
that which is pure, noble, and beneficent ; so 
expressive of the highest trend of humanity ; 
so radiant with the virtues that are seeking for 
supremacy, that in their conquest she must 
live, and so in harmony with advanced thought 
and high purpose that the ascendancy of her 
name has not reached its zenith. It will glow 
brighter and win a wider garland of praise 



406 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

than that which a great nation bestowed when 
the silver cord was loosened and God gave his 
beloved sleep. 

Lucy Webb Hayes was a nineteenth century 
woman, and, living at its close, reflected in her 
catholicity of judgment, her richness of experi- 
ence, and her high moral tone all that is best in 
the hour in which she lived. Classic in form 
and mold, beautiful and womanly, her ideas 
and aspirations were the finer breathings of the 
spirit of our times. Her rare endowments 
of person were perfectly blended with still 
rarer mental accomplishments, while the high- 
est crown of spiritual grace was her most 
winning possession. 

The hour seemed providential when she 
came upon the stage to assist, by the imperial 
might of love, those ideas which we associate 
with all that is pure in society. She was not 
archaic, but modern. Her life was not pat- 
terned after the past ; hallowing its traditions, 
they were not blindly accepted ; they in- 
fluenced, but did not control her. She was 
of the present, and that means she was of the 
highest ; for progress touching man and society 
has aroused womanhood only to exalt her, 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 407 

until to-day we see her where the Creator 
placed her, at the side of man, his peer, his 
helpmate, and his guide. She was a member 
of the new chivalry that recognizes not only 
noble birth, but also noble character ; that 
broadens fraternity and culture until they yield 
to the many that which in other ages was only 
given to the few. The present age is demo- 
cratic, demanding for the many the preroga- 
tives of the few, opening up all spheres of 
activity to men and women alike; not breaking 
the limitations of nature, nor cutting across her 
sacred laws, but giving equal advantages to 
hold in equipoise the peership into which God 
has exalted them. 

Lucy Webb Hayes was representative of the 
best in the higher life of American womanhood. 
She was thoroughly American, with not a 
tinge of foreign accent in her tones, no servil- 
ity in custom, no subserviency in her manner. 
American patrician blood flowed through her 
veins, and all her actions revealed it. She 
was of colonial family, and came of lines of de- 
scent that went beyond the strife which made 
America free. Her ancestry were patriotic ; 
she grew up amid traditions that must 



408 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

ever quicken and stir the pulse of heroism. 
Her four great-grandfathers and grandfather 
all served in the Revolutionary War, while her 
own father was a soldier in the War of 1812. 
She came out of a brave line of men and 
women whose sacrifices have made our country 
a heritage of freedom and a country of equal 
rights. Virginia, the mother of presidents, 
and Connecticut, the home of stern independ- 
ent faith, were the States from which her fathers 
came. Puritan and cavalier blended in her life ; 
the stern convictions of one in the graceful 
form of the other gave strength and beauty, 
light and sweetness, to her nature. Rarely 
was there witnessed a more perfect bridal of 
the virtues that make winning the women of 
the South and the North than in this honored 
name. No cavalier graces exceed her warmth 
of affection or courtly demeanor ; and no Puri- 
tan saint ever walked with more unbending 
integrity before his God. Her father, a suc- 
cessful physician, had also followed the pro- 
fession of arms, and, himself a soldier for the 
liberty of his nation, had all the sublime 
passion of a patriot in the noblest sense. He 
fought for liberty of native land, and when he 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 409 

received his political freedom and could call 
himself a free man, he spurned to hold in 
bondage a fellow man, even though he was 
weak and could not assert his rights. 

Possessing slaves, he left his Ohio home 
and went to Lexington, Ky., to set them free 
and send them to Africa. There on his errand 
of humanity he was arrested by the dread 
cholera, the philantropist was taken, and a 
wife was widowed and three children made 
fatherless. May we not say truly the best life 
of the South land was her dower when such a 
character was her father? May we not see in 
the strong moral convictions of the child the 
transmitted virtues of liberty and humanity 
that were before in her father ? Much that was 
best in our national life she inherited, and that 
inheritance was of value. Training and 
environment enter largely into the formation 
of character, but ancestry counts for some- 
thing. Modern science, tracing back vice and 
virtue from generation to generation, simply 
startles us by the results. We can believe 
Dr. Holmes when he says, "You should have 
called in a physician a hundred years ago;" 
and the clergyman who said to a godly child 



4IO METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

" You were prayed for a century ago." The 
children of the Puritans, the Scotch Pres- 
byterians, the Quakers, and earlier Methodists 
ought to be grateful to the stern faith that 
held their parents ; for, holding their bodies the 
temple of God, they have transmitted blessings 
that cannot be overestimated. The intellect- 
ual supremacy of this nation in their hands to- 
day comes out of their antecedents. 

Lucy Webb was the child of a Christian 
mother whose deep sorrow and sweet spirit of 
submission had an unconscious influence on 
her after life. The shadows of early bereave- 
ments rarely ever pass away. Sometimes the 
cloud becomes luminous, and we see in the rift 
the golden field of God's good providence, but 
life is never the same. An only daughter, she 
shared with her brothers the same studies that 
equipped them foi* practical life. Her scholas- 
tic advantages were the best the nation then 
could give. Two years this young woman 
followed her brothers as a special student 
in Wesleyan University, at Delaware, O. 
Here in a severer discipline than is usually 
accorded to young ladies she was silently pre- 
paring for the highest walk of life. Her col- 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 4II 

legiate studies were completed at the Woman's 
College at Cincinnati. In the student of those 
days we can see the future woman. In her 
proficiency and fidelity we can forecast her fu- 
ture and the position she would naturally oc- 
cupy. In the college she was exemplary. 
President Wilbur would say as a stimulus to 
the delinquents, " Young ladies, I commend 
to you the example of Miss Webb." Here at 
college she received that higher training which 
bore such rich fruitage in after life, and amid 
its refined and religious associations her nature 
was broadening. Noble men and women had 
impressed their spirit upon the plastic nature 
of this young woman. She had been put in 
touch with the higher religious as well as in- 
tellectual life of the Church. Noble teaching 
had fallen from the lips of noble teachers ; and 
teacher, as well as book, were the formative 
influences that had shaped her life. We learn 
more from character than from books ; the 
personal touch of the scholar with the pro- 
fessor is what kindles the soul and makes an 
intellectual regeneration. Not in vain was the 
work of the early teachers ; they stamped their 
faith and love upon her intellect and heart, 



412 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

and when she came to her high estate she nev- 
er forgot those who had trained her. 

Miss Webb was among the first fruits of the 
new training of woman, receiving her diploma 
from the next to the oldest woman's college 
in America — a discipline not for the frivolous 
hours of amusement, not for the dancing hour 
and banqueting hall, but the highest education, 
mental and moral, fitting for equality of service 
with her brother in whatever position he might 
occupy. She came out of a college that grad- 
uated the late Miss Bodley, dean of the Wom- 
an's Medical College of Philadelphia, whose 
professional grace only added to the womanly 
virtues she already possessed. She was one of 
a large body of alumnae which in the highest 
social circles of the nation are honoring God 
in reverent service for humanity, proving 
that the highest training is consistent with a 
true and womanly life. We call her training 
new ; it was new ; it was exceptional. The 
blue-stocking girl was not in vogue when this 
young woman attempted to master a collegi- 
ate course of study. She was exceptional 
then, but not now ; for at this very period we 
see woman contesting at Harvard and winning 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 413 

the prize for accurate scholarship — but not re- 
ceiving it; and in conservative Columbia lead- 
ing her brother in the academic strife and 
bearing away the laurels. 

The higher training has produced no better 
fruit than this accomplished woman of the 
Buckeye State ; and her noble life, so strong 
and yet so refined, is a convincing argument 
for that education which has been called the 
foe of woman. " By their fruits ye shall know 
them," and by such examples as Miss Webb 
it has won its right, and the new movement is 
now accepted. Miss Webb was trained better 
than she knew, and the serious work in school 
and college but unfolded those broad prin- 
ciples of charity and humanity which seemed 
to be a part of her natural dower. Culture 
alone did not make her what she was ; other 
forces entered before, and she was but the 
beautiful flowering of those silent influences 
which we all feel but will not always acknowl- 
edge. Nature was kind to her, and out of the 
great sorrow that saddened her childhood heart 
there grew a serious girlhood, the prophetic 
dower of a noble womanhood, the bud foretell- 
ing the exquisite rose. 



4H METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

Shortly after graduation she met a young 
lawyer of college training, full of ambition, and 
bearing in his conduct and scholarship the 
promise of professional success. The story of 
their love is but the old, old story repeated — 
the mutual plight of a lover's troth, a new name, 
a new home, and a new ministry. To the endear- 
ing name of wife was soon added the more hal- 
lowed name of mother, as her home echoed to 
the sweet songs and pattering footsteps of chil- 
dren. Amid scenes of conjugal joy and peace 
came the sad message of strife, and the cry of 
revolt found in her young husband's heart a 
protest, and the citizen became a soldier. 
Husband and wife were quickly separated, he 
to gird on his armor to save an imperiled 
union of States, and she, in lonely ministry, to 
keep the home and guard in tenderest love the 
children whom God had given them. Soon 
came the tidings that so many of us have 
heard, of loved ones bleeding on the field of 
battle or lying helpless in the hospital, followed 
by dread days of anxious seeking, and the 
longer days of patient watching and waiting, 
until they were restored t® health again, or 
found their last discharge. No record is given 



LUCY WEBB HAYES, 415 

of her wish when duty to country called her 
brave husband from her side ; no words are 
given, but we can know from her ancestry, her 
traditions and training, what would be her de- 
cision. We know little of her search from city 
to city, seeking the wounded form of her loved 
husband, and how at last, almost in despair, 
she found him and ministered unto him ; but 
we do know how she shared camp, hospital, and 
bivouac. Nothing is more winsome in this 
rare life than her ministry in the camp, when 
she shared the winter's rigor with her husband's 
soldiers, and when death entered and bore away 
her little boy whom she had taken with her to 
share still a mother's care. Many pens have de- 
scribed this part of her life, for many received 
its kindly benediction. Here came out the 
most winning traits of this patriotic woman ; 
she illustrated what Princess Victoria said to 
the German women : " For months past thou- 
sands of women and children have been de- 
prived of their breadwinners. We cannot 
cure the sickness of their hearts, but at least 
we can preserve them from bodily want." She 
could not release the soldier to his home, but 
she could soothe his homesick heart and ten- 



416 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

derly comfort, for no being comes so near in 
sympathy as woman. She was one of a noble 
band of patriotic women who followed their 
husbands to the field of battle and became to 
the soldiers a comfort and a joy — 

" With voices low, with ministering hand 

Hung round the sick . . . with angel offices, 

Like creatures native unto gracious act, 

A medium in themselves, to wile the length 

From langourous hours and draw the sting from pain." 

None can measure the blessing of a holy 
woman's ministry in the hospital or on the 
field of blood. Who that has shared the watch- 
ing and the waiting with them by beds of pain 
has not known how sweet their presence? 
They as none other can soothe the aching 
heart and calm the fevered brow. This brave, 
loving wife soon found her place by the rude 
pallet on the field, and united hand and voice 
to relieve and comfort the boys in blue. Here 
she carried the radiant spirit that was one of 
her most winning charms. She tarried month 
after month and soon won the highest place in 
the soldier heart, and poured out her influence 
that uplifted and cheered all around her; for 
a true woman soon finds her sphere and ever 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 417 

draws upward to higher ideas and nobler pur- 
poses those with whom she associates. Born 
to command and rule, it was not long before 
the scepter of her love drew out of the soldier- 
heart the most ardent devotion. If they saw 
the hero in the brave colonel of the regiment, 
they also saw the heroine in his wife ; for all 
heroism is not found upon the crimson field. 
The " battles of liberty and right are not all 
fought with the sword, and the noblest vic- 
tories are ofttimes peaceful and bloodless 
ones; but the same heroic attributes are re- 
quired to win them that sustain the soldier in 
the hour of battle." Her sphere was peaceful. 
It was her mission to move among the frail 
and yield words of encouragement, to bind up 
the wounds and give healing, and cheer by 
kind words and sweet psalm the lonesome 
and faint-hearted ; and right royally she did it. 
She treads with angel grace the rough stone 
pathway, 

" Flowers laugh before her on their beds, 
And fragrance in her footings treads." 

Of their own sweet will the soldiers called 
her mother, and no title that she afterward re- 
ceived did she esteem more highly. And well 



41 8 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

might this young mother at their leader's side, 
for it meant volumes of affection that can never 
be put into words. Many incidents in this 
period show her kindly spirit. Some of the 
soldiers challenged a comrade of weak judg- 
ment to go up to headquarters and ask the 
beautiful woman there to sew on a button for 
him. At once the challenge is accepted, and 
amid the merriment of the comrades, Jim, in 
shirt sleeves, marches up and asks of the lady 
the desired favor. When he returns they all 
with one voice cry out, " Say, Jim, did you 
find your woman ? " " Of course I did ; she 
was just a sitting there, and a mighty good- 
looking woman, too." " Don't you know it is 
the colonel's wife ? " "I don't care," said Jim, 
" she is a lady, anyhow." The little deed re- 
calls the tender humanity of this brave woman ; 
yea, her true womanhood, for ever in our social 
life the highest are they who serve. Camp 
life only brings out her wider sympathies. 
Her hands are busy making little delicacies for 
the sick and wounded, " Setting such sweet 
music to hideous deeds." There is a mother's 
love for the homesick boys and a mother's 
kindness for all that crave her own peculiar 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 419 

love. Summer and winter she stands in her 
lot, carrying over into the camp the charm of 
her home, and while her husband leads in the 
strife she in her own ministry continues to 
cheer and bless. We have but faint pictures 
of that long siege, but we see her hovering 
over beds of pain, speaking words of comfort 
and singing psalms of Christ, and when death 
draws near leading souls to Christ. We see 
her when affliction bows the strongman, when 
the dark winged angel enters the headquarters 
and loving hands bear away to her native State 
a darling child. Into her own heart enters the 
arrow, and her sorrow, as well as her love, won 
the soldier unto her as well as unto her brave 
husband. Lucy Webb Hayes had her place 
among that noble band of Methodist women 
who followed with heroism the soldier to the 
field of battle and shared with him the perils 
and sacrifices incident to such a life. Placing 
the pallet by the bivouac, she made the music 
of reveille and tattoo softer to suffering ears 
by her own sweet voice, and by her own nurs- 
ing care brought with more than a physician's 
skill the bruised to health again. War makes 

heroines as well as heroes. The martial in- 
28 



420 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

stinct that leads the soul " to wrestle with the 
dragon and the glorious fight to win," and the 
patriotic impulse holding native land in highest 
sanctity, are not of one sex only ; it is the same 
spirit crystallizing in deeds of charity and quiet 
works of sacrifice that flows on the field of bat- 
tle and is actualized by the ministry of the 
sword. General Hayes led brave men to pre- 
serve in dread peril the integrity of the Union 
we love ; but his wife followed in quiet but 
hallowed footsteps in tenderest ministry of love. 
He, by warlike deeds, won the soldier's faith, 
but she by the finer ministry of peace ; he by 
outward acts of battle, she by inner grace of 
compassion. Each had their own sphere, and 
the valorous spirit burning in her heart 
prompted her to go to the field and in loving 
vigilance do and suffer as God willed for those 
in martial contest around her. The 23d Ohio, 
her husband's regiment, was her special care ; 
and they in terms of endearment called the 
young wife " Mother." But few of its mem- 
bers that had not felt the touch of her " vanished 
hand," and heard the loving voice now still. 
On her silver wedding anniversary they gave her 
a silver salver, with an inscription beginning, 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 42 1 

"To thee, our Mother, on thy silver troth, 
We bring this token of our love ; thy boys 
Give greeting unto thee with brimming hearts." 

They almost idolized her, and we can under- 
stand their veneration. She was magnetic,, 
cultured, patriotic, and full of sweet charity. 
She shared with them a great love and a great 
sacrifice ; and nothing unites men and women 
as a mutual love of a great work. There is 
the fellowship of intellect in which a common 
quest and culture unite; there is the fellow- 
ship of faith in which a common creed binds 
together ; but the most hallowed compact 
which can unite soul to soul is the bond of a 
common love for a common country, a bond 
that is stronger than death when country is im- 
periled. Next to fidelity to God should be our 
loyalty to native land. In all ages the virtue 
of patriotism has held the highest rank in the 
estimate of character. The Hebrew would cry 
out, " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my 
right hand forget her cunning." The Roman 
took up the patriotic strain of the Greek and 
cried out, " It is sweet, it is glorious, to die for 
one's country." The fire of patriotism burned 
brightly upon the altar of this woman's heart ; 



422 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

she loved her country, God's best gift to any 
people ; she loved the Stars and Stripes that had 
never been furled in national defeat. Its deep 
blue folds revealing star after star, the symbol 
of a growing Union, rejoiced her heart. For 
the formation of that hallowed compact her 
ancestry had bravely struggled, and for its in- 
tegrity she had stood even on the field of bat- 
tle with husband and friend. That banner 
summed up all the glorious sacrifice of her 
forefathers, all that was best in the past, and 
was a bright harbinger of all that would be 
best in the future. She lived and wrought to 
make it represent what is noblest, not for our 
own land only, but for all the world. Virtues 
cluster around this honored name, and one of 
the most wanning is the patriotism of this beau- 
tiful life. We need to emphasize this grace 
when mercantilism is sapping the foundations 
of our republic and women are cultivating 
society that is heartless and corrupt. In an 
age when the fashion of country is dying out, 
and erring men flaunt upon our soil all kinds 
of banners, even to the red flag of anarchy, we 
need to burnish the tablets of our honored 
forefathers, and keep alive the memory of the 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 423 

patriotic dead, who in noblest bravery and 
sacrifice preserved our liberties. Honoring the 
living we must not forget our patriotic dead. 

" Brave, brave were the soldiers, high name to-day, who lived 
through the fight, 

But the bravest passed to the front and fell unnamed, un- 
known." 

Lucy Webb Hayes will never know the result 
of her service of love in the army of the West. 
Her ministry was shared by many soldiers who 
have passed to the majority. The bodies she 
healed have weakened, and many dissolved ; 
the spirits she cheered have fainted, and to-day 
are " breathers of an ampler day ; " the hearts 
she strengthened have weakened only to find 
an abiding Comforter ; many of the voices she 
inspired to a holier life by her Sabbath evening 
song have become stilled in the same silence 
that hushed too soon her own sweet accents ; 
but veterans wearing the badge of a victor 
cause will ever revere her name and teach it 
as an angel's benediction to their children's 
children. 

When the sad strife was ended, and the 
bugle-call summoned back the soldier, and he 
was transformed again into the civilian, the 



424 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

qualities that won honor on the field of battle 
were honored in the civil strife, and Ohio 
honored herself in sending General Hayes to 
represent her in the national Congress. He 
had been brave and victorious in battle, and 
Ohio felt she could trust her son in the council 
of the nation, and her choice fell upon Ruther- 
ford B. Hayes. Hither came this woman to 
gain a brief glimpse of the social life at Wash- 
ington. She came the peer of any of the 
nation's rulers, having the advantage of gentle 
birth and refining associations, fitting her to 
adorn the sphere in which she moved. From 
a seat in Congress her husband is called once, 
twice, thrice to the governorship of his native 
State — an honor rarely conferred on her sons. 
To the executive mansion at Columbus came 
this quiet woman. The increasing years have 
ripened a richer womanhood, and she enters it 
only to dispense a pure and generous hospital- 
ity. In her high estate her home is unchanged. 
Position, changing human nature and corrupt- 
ing so easily, has no spell to draw this woman 
from her path of duty as she sees it. The en- 
vironments of her home have changed ; there 
is a higher social life and a wider field of re- 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 425 

sponsibility and enjoyment; but as the day 
of rule continues Lucy Webb Hayes remains 
unchanged. She carries the sanctities of her 
beautiful home at Fremont to the executive 
mansion at Columbus, and men and women 
respect and love her. The high place, with its 
multiplied snares, has none to entice her ; she 
walks humbly before God as she did when 
only a village held her in highest esteem. She 
honors the relation in which she is placed, and 
dispenses unto all a refined and graceful hos- 
pitality. As the first woman of the common- 
wealth, in quiet grace and dignity she fulfills 
her social duties. The Church of her birth 
and childhood holds her in reverent love, and 
its simple service is her delight. In her social 
exaltation she does not surrender conviction, 
nor in base ingratitude desert the altar of her 
parents, nor claim exemption from her duty 
unto God, but simply fulfills the obligations 
of duty to God and her fellow-man. She car- 
ries her womanly heart in the high places, and 
never forgets the obligations of womanhood. 
Nothing is more beautiful in this noble life 
than a familiar deed of kindness that should 
not be forgotten. When the first woman of 



426 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

the State, she stopped her carriage before a 
drunken woman, and, helping her out of the 
gutter, took her in her carriage and drove her 
to her home. It was a little deed, but it speaks 
volumes. It is a rebuke to the charge made 
against woman that she is harsher than her 
brother to her fallen sisters. That was a royal 
act, and richly fragrant with the grace of heaven. 
Great deeds are guarded, and we cannot always 
determine their motive ; but the little wayside 
acts of charity — these declare the true charac- 
ter ; these acts of condescension to the lowly 
and unfortunate unfold the princely heart. 
Do not tell me how men and women treat their 
superiors, but how they act before their in- 
feriors, and I will read their character. Her 
unfailing courtesy to all around her — grasping 
the hand of the police officer awaiting her ap- 
proach to her carriage in our own city, and giv- 
ing a word of thanks to the humblest servant, 
reveals a nature of rarest value. Ever does the 
Christly heart express its love in deeds of kind- 
ness, stooping to help those in distress. The 
need was God's call to her, and the opportu- 
nity God's imperative resting upon her, and 
when it came gladly she embraced it. 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 427 

Lucy Webb Hayes met the requirements of 
every station in life until, stepping upward at 
God's command, the door of the highest home 
in the land opened unto her, and she, who had 
presided with ease and courtly grace over the 
governor's mansion in Ohio, was called to sway 
the social scepter at the White House in 
Washington. Here upon the social heights 
she stood for four years, a nation's gaze, a 
nation's admiration. Mrs. Hayes brought to 
the White House many of the virtues that 
ripen in home and in society. She was the 
embodiment of the graces of peace, the mild 
and soft disposition that comes of quiet days 
and solitude, and the strong courage and forti- 
tude that come of war and the field of battle. 
Her character, so strong and yet so tender, so 
pure and yet so sweet, matured in the fierce 
elements of war, as well as in the calm minis- 
try of peace. In her as in few women were 
blended the soldier's stern obedience to duty, 
and the courtly grace of womanhood. She 
had passed through a varied experience, and 
every position had influenced her ; for while 
our environment does not make us, it does 
mold and shape us. Circumstances became a 



428 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

form to mold into rarest beauty this rarest 
woman. Many have wondered at the secret 
of her social success, and sought to know how 
the elements were so exquisitely blended in 
her character that with facile ease she could 
make the highest bow to her, and yet in con- 
descending grace make the humblest feel at 
home in her presence. But a study of her life 
reveals a discipline that fitted her for all posi- 
tions and an adaptation to all classes. Those 
who have met her dispensing a charming hos- 
pitality as the first woman of the nation, ever 
so gracious and dignified, so benignant and 
yet judicial, so austere in principle and yet so 
suave and gentle in demeanor, knew little of 
the passing years which had unfolded into sym- 
metry and grace her character. That bright 
face, haunted with an illuminating smile ever 
radiant and vivacious, had its shadows, which 
only gave a deeper tone to the joyous hours 
which followed ; and those lips, bursting out 
into good cheer and dropping benedictions, had 
pressed the bitter chalice of earthly sorrow that 
gave her words a softer and a sweeter flavor. 
In early childhood she sat in silence beneath 
the blow that made of her father's deed of 



LUCY WEBB HAVES. 429 

mercy the occasion of her mother's widow- 
hood. In the awful struggle that shadowed 
every American home and cut off the flower 
of our land, multiplying the green hillocks 
from the St. Lawrence to the Rio Grande, she 
had received her burden of sorrow. Death, 
entering with equal footsteps the peasant hall 
and palace gate, had snatched from her arms 
one that she tenderly loved, and the loss had 
softened by the grace of God her nature and 
led her close to Christ. Religion colored her 
life; yielding her heart to Christ in glad devo- 
tion in the days of her youth, after-life only 
found her faith strengthened and new graces 
budding forth. Her reverence for God's house 
was profound. Always, when entering her 
pew, whether in the fine church of the capital 
or in the humble home of worship, this woman 
knelt in devotion. She would not come and 
substitute the crook of the neck for the bended 
knee, but always devoutly kneeling in God's 
house worshiped her Father in heaven. 

Lucy Webb Hayes was a new type of 
womanhood. In her occupancy of the White 
House we have the supremacy of the noblest 
type yet developed in American society. Many 



430 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

accomplished and charming women have pre- 
sided over the White House. Martha Wash- 
ington, wearing at her inaugural reception a 
simple russet gown and white handkerchief 
around her neck, wins us by the finer grace of 
form and beauty of character. Mrs. Madison, 
the beautiful Quakeress, was as charming in 
manner as in her beauty. Miss Harriet Lane, 
under her uncle, James Buchanan's, admin- 
istration, was representative of all that was 
most refined and courtly in American life. 
The home life of the great commander, un- 
der the social scepter of Mrs. Grant, was idyllic 
in Washington — an illustration that the high- 
est social, military, and political position can 
be consistent with a pure and hallowed do- 
mestic life. 

Mrs. Hayes brought to the White House the 
highest gifts and rarest accomplishments. She 
was representative of the new training, and in 
her worth and work commends a culture which 
yields to woman, as well as man, the highest 
privilege of college and university. She was 
the first college-bred woman that ever presided 
over the executive mansion at Washington, 
and the friend of the higher education of 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 43 1 

women could not have found a finer example 
of its worth than was evident in the life and 
teachings of this woman. Her life declares 
that the severest training does not detract from 
womanly grace, but adds to it ; that it does 
not incapacitate for home and homely duties, 
but rather makes richer and higher the domes- 
tic life. 

Her training was the fruit of the great Meth- 
odist revival which planted first in the New 
World the college for women as well as men. 
Indirectly the whole movement came out of 
the Wesleyan reformation, for its leader saw 
the only way to elevate woman in society was 
not to banish the card table and suppress the 
dance, the only vocation for frivolous women, 
but to educate her beyond and above them. 
Wesley said, " It has long passed for a maxim 
that woman should only be seen and not heard ; 
and accordingly many of them are brought up 
in such a manner as if they were only de- 
signed for playthings. But is this doing honor 
to the sex, or is it real kindness to them ? In 
it is the deepest unkindness. It is horrid 
cruelty. It is mere Turkish barbarity, and I 
know not how any woman of sense can submit 



432 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

to it." We can readily understand Mr. Wes- 
ley. His own mother was a scholarly woman. 
He had seen rare culture blended in her, giv- 
ing added grace ^and dignity to womanhood ; 
not ignoring maternal duties, but by education 
making them more easily discharged. Method- 
ism, incorporating many of Mr. Wesley's ideas 
into the Church, never did a better work for 
America than in the establishment of a college 
for the higher training of women, and the fruit 
of that endeavor was never more beautifully 
illustrated than in the life of Lucy Webb 
Hayes. She represented truly, as one said, 
" the new woman's era." Her coming to the 
social leadership of the nation gave an ascend- 
ancy to new principles and new modes of con- 
duct. We could not expect a woman of this 
type to be held only to the amusement of the 
ballroom, the dissolute banquet or idle gam- 
ing table. Given a broader outlook on life, 
sweeping with longer vision over its fields of 
sorrow and joy, seeing its golden opportunities 
for ennobling service, and armed to do and re- 
lieve, you would not expect one of such varied 
gifts to be confined to one sphere, and that of 
least importance. Her intellectual vantage 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 433 

ground would naturally make her revolt at a 
submission that man imposed, and not God. 
Her training made her the counselor, not the 
subordinate ; the helpmeet, not the menial. 
The advent of a woman of this character into 
the first home of the nation would naturally 
cause social changes. There would be frictions 
of thought and changes of conduct. The finer 
nature would naturally draw out the finer 
traits of those coming in contact with her, 
and the higher life would unconsciously lift 
others to her level ; and yet in the transition 
there would be collisions, and in the advance 
there would be opposition. Every forward 
movement in society is attended with resist- 
ance by the conservative element, and every 
one that would lift men to a higher level must 
expect opposition. 

Lucy Webb Hayes did not come to the 
White House a social iconoclast to dethrone 
the customs of society and trample upon time- 
honored ideas. She never wore the reformer's 
gown, assuming to destroy and recreate ; she 
simply ordered her home in Washington as 
she had directed it before when dispensing a 
cordial hospitality to the citizens of an hon- 



434 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

ored State, or entertaining her friends in quiet 
elegance at her home in Fremont. She had 
no thought of doing anything radical, nor of 
breaking from the customs of a century in the 
highest home. She would do only what every 
woman has a right to do— make her own menu 
in her own home. If the German Georges cast 
out the English bill of fare when they came to 
St. James, and substituted sauerkraut, pork sau- 
sage, and coarse beer — what cause of offense to 
their subjects !— it was only a matter of taste ; 
and so if this noble woman saw fit to give her 
guests her own choice of food and viands it 
was still in good form. Nay, if when the rep- 
resentatives of older nations gathered round 
her hospitable board she could show that wit 
and good cheer can be inspired without the 
wine cup, let them learn the lesson ; for there 
is no lesson so needed to-day in the leading 
circles of the world's great nations as that of 
temperance ; for the peril of England, highest 
in civilization, to that of the Congo State, 
lowest in the scale, is strong drink. The peril 
of England is not only in the drinking habits 
of the people, but of the nobility. Her lead- 
ership is being weakened by this indulgence, 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 435 

and the awful vice submerging the lowest is 
rising until the tide sweeps at the very steps 
of the throne. The besetment of social life in 
all ages has been the wine cup, not only in the 
cottage, but in the palace, and if this woman 
will not tempt her guests to a perilous indul- 
gence, let us commend and not condemn. 
Until Mrs. Hayes spread her banqueting table 
in the White House its life w r as not represent- 
ative. But few homes have wine in the side- 
board and on the dining table. The custom 
is obsolete, and the great majority of homes are 
without it. The excluded cup is American, 
and we say it reverently, that the social life in 
the White House, until the rule of this tem- 
perance woman, was not representative. The 
traditions of a foreign court controlled it, and 
they were in conflict with the highest Ameri- 
can ideas, and were simply and justly ignored. 
For once the W 7 hite House represented the 
ideal American home — a home in which purity 
and simplicity mingled in sweetest union, a 
home in which convivial joy abounded without 
the sad besetment that mars the banquet and 
imperils the soul. Very beautiful was that so- 
cial life, so pure and courteous. Rarely has it 
29 



436 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

been given unto a nation to have a family at 
its head such as were there during the admin- 
istration of President Hayes. 

Lucy Webb Hayes carried to her exalted 
position the same social usages she brought to 
the executive mansion at Columbus, when as 
a governor's wife, by her dignity and generous 
kindness, she won the hearts of all who met 
her ; and why should she change her mode of 
living at the behest of those who preceded 
her? It would have been an innovation, but 
she was no innovator. There was a continuity 
in her home life and customs, and she wisely 
allowed no one to break them. In her position 
it was her prerogative to command and not to 
follow, and she used it in a quiet and womanly 
way, not knowing that one deed of charity had 
placed her above every woman that had pre- 
ceded her in the White House ; that by the 
exclusion of the wine cup from her banquet- 
ing hall she had made her example a memorial 
of blessing unto many ages. She dared to be 
singular ; she dared the sneer and the frown, 
but received a prayer of benediction from 
every child of God, and the silent good wishes 
of every man and woman who would destroy 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 437 

the greatest evil that is corrupting American 
homes. 

It was a new departure, bringing the most 
hallowed and sacred customs of America to 
the highest place. It was a rare courage, toss- 
ing the wine cup out of the White House and 
locking the vault in which the spirits of evil 
had been imprisoned only to be released at 
the hour of the banquet. In a most womanly 
way she ushered in the new order, with no pa- 
rade or ceremony, but simply transferring the 
elegant hospitality of her private home to the 
White House. To her it was almost an un- 
conscious deed, but to worldly society auda- 
cious. As in all great decisions its author did 
not realize the measure of its influence or the 
far-reaching beneficence of her example. Her 
decision was a surprise to the nation and sim- 
ply a delight. Virtuous men applauded and 
pure women rejoiced as the message of her 
judgment on electric wing went over the na- 
tion. She had not thought that in forming a 
state dinner she was giving a precedent to the 
womanhood of America; that her example 
made it easy for her sisters to banish the de- 
mon of strong drink that had degraded the 



433 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

banquet to a scene of dissolute mirth. She 
said to her dearest friends that she "had no 
idea that her course of action would cause so 
much comment ; " but she did it and stood 
steadfast ; and for four years, in the highest 
home of the nation, the table was spread and 
guests came and went, carrying with them the 
memory of hours spent in good cheer and rare 
enjoyment, without bearing away the effects of 
an indulgence which at last " biteth like a ser- 
pent and stingeth like an adder." Her table 
was the royal banquet, indeed ; for " it is not 
for kings, O, Lemuel, it is not for kings to 
drink wine ; nor for princes strong drink." 

Her own words are her vindication ; she 
simply said, " I trust I am not fanatical, but I 
do want my influence to be always in favor of 
temperance. I have never offered wine to my 
family or my guests. I am not willing to 
begin now. I shall violate a precedent, but I 
shall not violate the constitution which we 
only vowed to obey. As for my countrymen, 
they are accustomed to independent action. I 
shall trust them to dispense a hospitality with- 
out stimulants.'' Her decision, made at the 
time when a great nation was struggling to 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 439 

throw off the hateful yoke of intemperance, was 
an inspiration and power that none may esti- 
mate. She brought more to the noble army 
of Rechabites than any adherent had ever 
done. She from her lofty position allied her- 
self to the movement, and from ten thousand 
homes in our fair land her name will ever be 
mentioned in tenderest love. Her decision, 
evoking the gratitude of the pure, was received 
by the foes of sobriety with anger and derision. 
Her high motives were impeached and her good 
name assailed, but nothing swerved her from her 
position. The profligate crowd which throng 
the capital of the nation, waiting only the open 
door of court to rush in and imbrute them- 
selves, found at once a Rechabite had come to 
power, now stood aside and ceased to tip their 
elbows in courtesy to the American queen ; 
but she cared not for the adulation of the 
winebibber nor the witticisms flowing from 
tongues loosened by strong drink. The 
place of her decision was most potent for 
good. She made it at Washington, where the 
social hour had become one of wild revelry 
and mirth, in which men lost their self-control, 
and women, overcome, fell upon the parlor 



440 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

floors ; at Washington, where battles were lost 
because of the routs of drunken commanders ; 
at Washington, where grave senators in maud- 
lin plight staggered to their seats and with 
incoherent speech revealed their condition ; 
at Washington, where even a President's oath 
was the inarticulate accent of the drunkard to 
Almighty God ; at Washington, where the 
sanctities of death were profaned by men of 
high office, and the funeral cortege to distant 
cities made a procession of inebriate men 
bearing their dead. Not a moment too soon 
did this noble woman enter the high place of 
the nation and ostracize the demon which had 
wrought so well its spell of woe over the land, 
for she knew how the circean wand had 
charmed multitudes only to drive out the angel 
and yield the human heart to beastly rule. 
She had lived before in Washington, had 
mingled in its highest circles, had been a social 
leader in her own State with her brave husband, 
had mingled in the camp and on the field of 
battle, and she knew the peril of the wine cup, 
and would not touch it, nor taste, nor han- 
dle it. 

That deed of Lucy Webb Hayes was an 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 44 1 

epoch in American history. It was the asser- 
tion in the highest home of the nation of a 
principle that had been struggling for suprem- 
acy for almost a century. It was an aim in a 
sure place against an imperious custom which 
had corrupted men and women since the begin- 
ning of the nation. It was a protest against 
and an expulsion of the evil one from a posi- 
tion that had been tacitly conceded to him ; 
for the strange conviction had filled many 
minds that court life was to be opened to the 
drunkard and drunkard-maker, that Bacchus 
was to hold his scepter in our highest home, 
until this woman asked by what constitutional 
right and authority must the dangerous pre- 
cedent be maintained ; and learning that tem- 
perance had as valid a right as intemperance, 
she escaped the sentence of God's holy word, 
" Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor 
drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and 
makest him drunken." 

Well might American womanhood rejoice 
in the calm audacity of this heroic woman. 
Well might the struggling cause of temperance 
lift up its head after such an example of this 
elect lady, for among the many of our nation 



442 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

illustrious by birth, training, and service, none 
ever brought to the cause of Christian prohibi- 
tion such rare, gifts and high position. 

Lucy Webb Hayes was not only a patriot 
loving her country, a social leader holding 
facile princeps the scepter over brave and 
manly men and accomplished women, but she 
was a religious woman and a devout Christian. 
All great natures are religious. The great 
soul is the humble soul. High natures are ever 
reverent ; they may not always assent to the 
popular creed, but greatness and reverence are 
ever united. She carried the clustered virtues 
of her winning life into the highest circle, and 
none were tarnished as she stood first among 
women in social command. Position deepened 
her sense of responsibility, and the widened 
opportunity only strengthened her for a holier 
ministry. She belonged to the new nobility 
forming in American society ; a sisterhood not 
based on lineage or wealth or culture only, but 
on character. Her stamp and zeal were not 
derivative but originaL Her rule was the pri- 
macy of moral power which ever must tell on 
political life. Increase of moral power strength- 
ens political security ; its decadence is its de- 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 443 

cline, and its destruction its death. The name 
American should be the badge of the noblest 
citizenship of the commonwealths of earth, 
for it means the highest boon conferred on the 
greatest number. It expresses the true idea 
of progress and development and evolution 
on the highest line : 

" One God, one law, one element, 

And one far off divine event 

To which the whole creation moves." 

Progress in civilization follows but one path. 
Material riches do not enrich a nation ; man- 
hood is wealth. When Greece was highest in 
intellectual leadership and wealth filled her 
coffers she was most corrupt. The era of 
Pericles, her greatest glory, contained in it the 
very seeds of her decay. The Augustan age, 
highest in Roman rule, was lowest in morals. 
There is but one splendor that fades not, and 
that is moral glory. Leagues upon leagues of 
land count but little ; material wealth is of 
but little value in itself; a nation's security is 
,n its treasures of intellect and heart ; when 
these increase progress is evident. , America 
will grow stronger as long as her ruling classes 
are pure and her natural leadership is upright. 



444 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

This accomplished woman was representa- 
tive of what was highest in society ; and, recog- 
nizing her stewardship, honored it. Position 
is only a trust. Life is a sacred calling. The 
strong are to serve the weak, the rich the poor, 
the high the lowly. Service is the badge of 
the highest royalty. The young German Em- 
peror may say, " I am the State," and be a law 
to himself; but the stern Frederick, his an- 
cestor, had a truer conception when he said, 
"Kings are but the servants of the people." 
She fulfilled, as Fenelon declares, the duty of 
kings, " that they reign for the benefit of their 
subjects rather than for themselves." The one 
and only King has said, " He that is chief, let 
him serve ;" and Lucy Webb Hayes delighted 
to obey that King. 

The great social truth of Christianity, the 
doctrine of stewardship, runs all through her 
ministry. Home was unassuming, no social 
airs or assumptions, no social exclusions ; the 
doors swung open and a glad welcome to 
all, and the humblest citizen of the republic, 
as well as the most exalted, is received. Her 
ear was ever open to all, whether the mes- 
sage was wise or otherwise. What more 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 44 5 

quaint than this incident ! Her hands are full, 
and every moment of the morning occupied, 
when a messenger announces that a man and 
two women of the Society of Friends are in 
the library, saying that they have a message, 
and will tarry until they can be received. She 
and her husband are very busy, and fifty more 
visitors are waiting with their varied burdens 
to pour into their ears. It is suggested they be 
excused ; but no, the work is laid aside and 
they enter the library and greet the sweet 
gray forms. At last the man declares he has 
a message from the yearly meeting, and, ad- 
dressing them by the names Rutherford and 
Lucy, he reads a Scripture command, a prom- 
ise, a curse, and a benediction, and then silence 
and prayer, and the whole morning is con- 
sumed. What a delicious bit of courtesy, and 
what a picture for a painter ! We know not 
which is more beautiful, the stern prophet of 
grave and reverend mien, or the rulers in high 
place listening to alternate woe and blessing 
coming from the Father of all. How opposite 
another picture when ruler and subject meet 
together ! " Who are you," said Mary, Queen 
of Scots " that presume to school the nobles and 



446 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

sovereign of this realm ?" " Madam, a subject 
born within the same," answered John Knox. 
Happy for the ill-fated queen if she had sat in 
silence and listened to the voice of God like 
these two servants at the head of the nation. 
The sad tragedy might have been averted that 
teaches even to-day that the highest as well as 
the lowest are under authority. 

Lucy Webb Hayes was a Christian and a 
Methodist, carrying, as one has said, the Bible 
and Methodist Discipline to the White House, 
and making the golden rule her working stand- 
ard in life. She came from a State in which 
from the days of Edward Tiffin, its first gov- 
ernor and an honored local preacher, until the 
present, many of its most distinguished sons 
have been reared at the altars of Methodism. 
The itinerant early entered Ohio, giving the 
Gospel to the pioneers in their rude cabins, and 
their children to-day rejoice in the possession 
of the same truth. Ohio may be proud of her 
Methodist children, for among the most 
honored names of this nation they stand out a 
lofty tribute to the churches and schools that 
molded their character. The names of Tiffin, 
Worthington, Trimble, and Corwin, of McLean, 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 447 

Grant, and of many living, have shed luster 
upon the State as well as the Church. 

They have served the Church and nation, 
and are but a few of a large class that from the 
genesis of the republic have been its stanch- 
est supporters. Methodism has ever been an 
influential factor in the ruling classes of the 
nation. With no bureau like Romanism, with 
no paid agents to assist its work or organiza- 
tion, yet her quiet moral influence has been 
influential from the beginning. Rising at the 
birth of the new government, when the colo- 
nies threw off their allegiance to Britain, it grew 
up a new Church, with many of its principles in 
harmony with the State. Its emphasis of life 
rather than creed, its catholicity, opening its 
communion to all branches of the Christian 
Church, its tolerant faith and want of bigotry, 
its simplicity in form of worship, its earnestness 
in saving men, its apostolic character in the pu- 
rity of its ministry and the altered lives of its 
converts, caused it at once to take a deep root 
in the hearts of all classes who loved republi- 
can principles and a free Church, until to-day 
not only in numbers but in moral premiership 
it leads the nation. From colonial days the 



44§ METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

Church has kept close to the government, 
making its moral influence felt in its legisla- 
tion. A reforming society, it agitated human- 
itarian views before any other Church of the 
republic. It was no sooner planted on our 
shores than it protested against slavery and 
intemperance. It had influence among the 
highest. Washington was the intimate friend 
of our first bishops, Coke and Asbury. They 
were his guests at Mount Vernon. Asbury 
was intimate with him, and through him 
Methodism was the first Church to offer its 
support to the new government, a support that 
has never been withdrawn for over a hundred 
years. Bancroft says when Coke and Asbury, 
the first superintendents of the Methodists, 
asked Washington to aid them in their peti- 
tion to the Virginia Legislature for an act of 
universal emancipation, he told them frankly 
" that he was of their sentiment, and should 
this petition be taken into consideration he 
would signify it to the Assembly in a letter." 
These men pleaded for abolition, and had the 
Virginia farmer the nerve of the itinerant the 
solution of a grave problem would not have 
been written in blood. From Washington to 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 449 

Lincoln Methodism protested until, at the 
suggestion of Bishop Simpson, Lincoln, by a 
stroke of a pen, released a nation at his feet, 
and the deed made him immortal. Washing- 
ton was familiar with Methodism and its work, 
being a correspondent of Lady Huntingdon, 
and his wife of Katherine Livingston. In the 
legislative halls at Washington more prayers 
have been offered up by the ministry of the 
new Church than any other. We may not name 
the chaplains, but some names are familiar : 
Lee, Bascom, Cookman, Slicer, Durbin, Bow- 
man, Newman, Huntley, Milburn, and others 
make up the corps of spiritual leaders that 
have led Congress in devotion. The highest 
in rule have been in attendance on the minis- 
try of our revered Church. Senator Walter 
Colquitt, of Georgia, would preach, and John 
Adams would thank him for his message. He 
would follow Edward Tiffin, though only a 
local preacher, and sit delighted as the sur- 
veyor-general talked of Christ. He heard 
Captain Webb, the founder of Philadelphia 
Methodism, and said " he was one of the most 
eloquent men he had ever heard." Webb 
fought for Merrie England, but drew the sword 



450 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

of the spirit in a holier warfare and with 
greater victories. The early itinerants taught 
our rulers, and the laity aided in making our 
laws. Every position of honor in this nation 
has been filled by members of the pioneer 
Church. When Bishop Bowman was chaplain 
of the United States Senate he said that over 
one half of the members of Congress had been 
educated at Methodist schools. Her adherents 
have honored the highest judiciary and cabinet 
positions at home, and have represented our 
nation in the highest courts abroad. In the 
White House Methodism has come with its 
loving message to the highest. Its ministry 
has had an honored place, and it adds but 
another meed of praise to this Church that so 
many of the men filling the executive mansion 
were either trained at its altars, influenced by 
its clergy, or accepted its teachings. President 
Jackson, the Scotch-Irishman, was guided in 
political matters by his secretary of state, 
Edward Livingston, the brother of Mrs. 
Garrettson, and in spiritual matters by his 
chaplain, James Gwin, and their counsel saved 
him from wrecking a brave life. He turned 
to these faithful friends in every emergency, 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 45 I 

and they were about the only men that could 
control the wild Irish blood that coursed 
through his veins. 

President William H. Harrison was familiar 
with its frontier work, and hailed with delight 
the coming of the new evangelists as they fol- 
lowed through forest and over prairie the 
exodus of the people. The itinerant was his 
friend and his home his resting-place. When 
the seat of government for the Indian Terri- 
tory was located at Vincennes, Ind., he was 
governor, and listened to the first Protestant 
sermon preached in the new Northwest. The 
apostolic William Winans was the preacher, 
and " Governor Harrison kindly held a tallow 
candle while the itinerant read his text and 
hymns." 

The brave hero in the earthly strife kept 
close to a braver band of men, until at last he 
too was conquered and became a soldier in the 
holiest of all wars. Only a few weeks before 
his inauguration as President of the* United 
States he knelt in Christly consecration at the 
altar in Wesley Chapel, in Cincinnati, and there 
received a baptism for his sad death that fol- 
lowed so soon after his installation into office. 
30 



452 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

Night after night the old warrior would wor- 
ship, standing with Justice McLean, of the 
United States Supreme Court, and others of 
highest station, and sing the songs of the 
Church militant as souls were conquered for 
Christ. The militant psalm of the Church, 
" We'll die on the field of battle," was his favor- 
ite hymn, and made of the brave soldier a loyal 
recruit in a still nobler contest. He said, 
" Brother Gaddis, I know there are some of 
my political opponents that will be ready to 
impugn my motives in attending this revival 
at this particular time, but I care not for the 
frowns or smiles of my fellow-men. God 
knows my heart and understands my mo- 
tives ; " and then, laying his hand upon his 
heart, he exclaimed with deep emotion and 
with a fervor never to be forgotten, " A deep 
and abiding sense of my inward necessities 
brings me to this place night after night." 
Who may not say that the revival service be- 
came to him, wearing the earthly laurels, a 
crown of eternal rejoicing? 

President James Knox Polk was reared in 
its communion and died in its fellowship. He 
was converted under the ministry of Rev. 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 453 

J. B. McFerrin, D.D., and by him received 
into the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 
His conversion was clear and distinct, yielding 
joy and peace to his soul. " Mr. Polk," said 
Dr. McFerrin to Rev. Charles P. Whitecar, 
" was the most gentle and sweet-spirited con- 
vert I have ever seen, clinging to his Saviour 
as a young child cleaves to its mother." 

President Pierce, when a senator from New 
Hampshire, came under its hallowed influence 
and professed a change of heart. He was only 
one of a number of the members of Congress 
who came under the spell of that seraphic 
preacher, Rev. George Cookman, whose sad and 
untimely death sent a thrill of sorrow through 
many hearts as the steamer President went 
down in mid-ocean. Cookman was chaplain 
of the Senate when his burning words arrested 
the senator. He writes on February 28, 
1839: " Senator Pierce has been attending my 
ministry regularly ever since I have been in 
the city, and for the last three or four weeks 
his heart has been broken up indeed, and a 
more sincere, humble, penitent sinner I have 
seldom seen. He opened his mind, he said, 
for the first time to any human being on the 



454 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

overwhelming subject of his soul's salvation, 
while tears coursed down his cheeks and he 
paced the room." 

When we recall the martyred Lincoln we 
also remember how he turned to Bishop Simp- 
son for prayer and counsel ; his words were his 
encouragement, his prayers his help. He loved 
him as a friend, he followed him as a teacher ; 
and when the awful tragedy deprived a nation 
of its highest ruler the nation as by one con- 
sent called him to pronounce the eulogy over 
the greatest man that has served the republic 
since the days of Washington. When Lin- 
coln's only son led to the altar the daughter 
of a favorite pupil Bishop Simpson was chosen 
to solemnize the marriage, and when the chil- 
dren whom God had given them were given 
back in the sacred ordinance of baptism Bishop 
Simpson performed the ceremony. 

When we recall President Grant and enter 
the White House it is the children of the old- 
fashioned Methodist in authority and the love 
of their parents' Church continued. Nothing 
is more beautiful in the life of General Grant 
than his love of home and of Church. The 
same sweet sanctities of home at Galena are 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 455 

preserved at Washington ; the same kindness 
to the itinerant is evident as when in private 
life he found welcome, and the same attach- 
ment for the Church of his birth continued all 
through his honored years. When chief magis- 
trate of the nation he ever worshiped at her 
altars and served as a trustee ; and whenever 
he journeyed, at home or in foreign lands, he 
sought the Church of his choice and rever- 
ently worshiped God. Whether at Leadville, 
amid its thronging army of gold-seekers, or at 
Rome, under the shadow of St. Peter, or in 
China, he always turned aside to the Church 
of his birth. Position did not allure him from 
her fellowship ; he knew her heroic history and 
saw the fruit of character produced by her 
teachings, and the higher he trod the more 
constant his attendance upon her worship, and 
more ardent his love. Bishop Vincent at 
Galena, Bishop Simpson in the army, and 
Bishop Newman in Washington, represent the 
spiritual influences that surrounded General 
Grant from Galena to New York. We all know 
his attachment for the last-named bishop ; how 
he was his spiritual adviser in his long days of 
suffering and discipline, and when he fell on 



456 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

sleep at Mount McGregor a Methodist minister 
was with him, and pronounced before a weep- 
ing nation the last sad words which closed a 
lifework that humanity will hold as immortal. 

And so when this noble woman came to the 
White House she was not the first to intro- 
duce her faith in high places ; and when her 
hospitable home was opened and the itinerants 
bidden welcome it was not the first introduc- 
tion of Methodism there. From the genesis 
of the republic they had prayed and counseled 
with its rulers ; from the hour when its first 
bishops had besought the first President to 
make all the inhabitants free ; until a Simpson 
implored a Lincoln to let the people go free, 
Methodism had stood before the nation for 
temperance, liberty, and humanity. When 
England, in Church and State, was oppressing 
the colonists, imprisoning the Presbyterians, 
and persecuting the Methodists, Coke and 
Asbury, though of English birth, were in sym- 
pathy with freedom and dissent. Asbury, be- 
lieving justly in passive obedience in the clergy 
while the strife went on, was silent ; but when 
the issue was decided gave at once the in- 
fluence of the new Church to the new republic, 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 457 

and from that moment Methodism has been 
as true to the Union as the needle to the 
magnet. In the sad struggle when an erring 
brotherhood would break the compact of the 
States, when older Churches hesitated, and 
Rome, the oldest, recognized the Confederacy 
as an independent nation, the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church never faltered in her devotion to 
the integrity of the Union. Although the 
flower of her altars were cut down like grain 
in harvest, her churches without leadership, 
her offices vacant, and tens of thousands of 
her best youth were slain, she never wavered ; 
but in her appeal to the God of Sabaoth stood 
steadfast until all men were made free. Well 
might the martyred Lincoln say that " Meth- 
odism sent more soldiers to the field, more 
nurses to the hospital, and more prayers to 
heaven than any." 

Methodism loved much and she gave much. 
Her most sagacious leaders saw in the suprem- 
acy of the Union a higher step in civilization 
when the ideal should be realized, and liberty, 
for which she had pleaded a hundred years, 
should be proclaimed throughout the whole 
land " unto all the inhabitants thereof." They 



458 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

saw in the union of the States a higher com- 
pact of humanity, the fulfillment of the Gospel 
preached by Coke and Asbury ; and though the 
blow fell upon those whom they dearly loved 
they would not cease until America was a free 
land. " With malice toward none, and with 
charity for all/' it gave its great strength to 
make secure a liberty that is to-day as great a 
blessing to our brothers of the South as it is 
to those of the North. 

Methodism in the ministry of this charming 
woman was representative of all that was pure 
in morals, progressive in thought, and humane 
in reform. It was also representative of what 
was best in devotion ; for this woman of sterling 
worth was pious. She was an humble Chris- 
tian, and added the grace of humility to her 
exalted station. How Christlike her ideas of 
worship ! It was suggested by a friend that 
the congregation should tarry until the family 
of the chief magistrate retired, when she sim- 
ply said, " No, dear, here we are all equal/' 
It recalls the rebuke of Wellington to the rec- 
tor who asked a peasant beside him at the com- 
munion table to remove. " No/' said the Iron 
Duke, " at the Lord's table we are all equal." 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 459 

This humility, the rare dower of great souls, 
was not only evident in the outer world, but 
flowed out in silent service to those of humble 
station. What fruit of character richer than 
the following deed of kindness? A violent 
storm is beating, and torrents of rain are falling 
that must swell the river and imperil those 
living on its banks. A humble woman resides 
there, and the thought of her danger steals sleep 
from Mrs. Hayes's eyelids. She calls her coach- 
man and bids him seek the woman ; and not too 
soon has the deliverer come, as he puts her in 
the carriage and bears her to the home of Mrs. 
Hayes. Her thoughtful heart provides a cup 
of tea and a bed, and when the morning bread 
is broken she brings her to the table and intro- 
duces her as the " friend that rained down on 
us during the night." The quiet ministry of 
love only illustrates the grace of humility that 
adds a charm to every other gift she possessed. 
She was queenly in those highest virtues of 
faith and purity and love. She was earnest, 
but her virtues were not carried out to the 
extreme of fanaticism ; she was consistent, but 
not extravagant ; strong in intellect, but not in 
revolt against the higher laws of thought or 



460 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

action. Her faith was simple. I do not be- 
lieve she passed through the season of doubt, 
and, questioning her convictions, faltered, as 
Susannah Wesley. She seems to have walked 
before God in an unshaken confidence, perfectly 
content with the traditions of a faith that she 
had seen verified in the hallowed lives of God's 
servants ; and, taking this faith in all places, hon- 
ored it. Her home was ideal ; one in which her 
ennobling nature created an atmosphere of 
purity, fragrance, and pure thought ; one in 
which prayer and charity blended in sweetest 
union ; a home in which pleasures abounded, 
but none that added sorrow ; a home in which 
an honored father represented in his authority 
the higher rule of a divine Father. The altar 
of devotion on which God was honored daily 
in worship, and the sweeter sanctities, we may 
not disclose. Rare and beautiful was that life 
in the highest home of the nation. 

" A perfect wife ! The heavy veil of grief 

Back from the stricken hearts we will not draw, 

Save but to say her life, alas ! too brief, 
Her husband found without a flaw." 

Rarely has there been given unto a nation a 
family example like that of the White House 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 46 1 

during the administration of President Hayes. 
Her home was ever open. She was given to 
hospitality, and many are the servants of God 
who have found in her home a prophet's cham- 
ber where they tarried and where they brought 
blessing. She knew the value of the itinerants' 
work, and was familiar with the story of their 
sacrifice, that forms one of the brightest pages 
of Church history, and that should by all means 
be preserved. How appreciative and how true 
her own words, " Our Church, with an instinc- 
tive foresight of the future of the West, has 
built a host of Churches and sent out her min- 
isters to do and suffer in the wilderness. The 
story of a Methodist preacher on his circuit in 
the forest, on the plains, and in the mountains 
is rarely heard and little known in the older 
and prosperous States." She knew their work, 
and in her kindly way was glad to make bright 
their lives by some act of kindness. How 
perfectly in keeping with her nature these 
words to her pastor before the session of Con- 
ference, when solicited to entertain some of the 
ministers: "I will take ten or fifteen; but, 
brother," she said, " I want you to pick out 
some of the hard-worked ministers and their 



462 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

wives, who have had rather a hard time on 
their circuits. Send them to us and we will 
try to give them a pleasant week." What 
would Mrs. Hayes have thought of a great city 
not willing to entertain a few ministers for only 
a week? Ever into the home where God's 
servants go come blessings, and blessed are 
they who ever have a refuge for the prophet of 
God. 

Her home was radiant with a sacred light 
and sweet with a hallowed ministry. Let us 
turn aside the veil of a Sabbath evening at the 
White House ; it is an etching of such rare 
beauty that it cannot be forgotten. It is a com- 
plement picture to " Cottar's Saturday Night," 
in which Scotland's peasant poet describes one 
of her humble homes. How opposite from 
ordinary court life — at the Lord's table in 
the morning, at the gaming table at night ! 
There is the President and his family, Vice- 
President Wheeler, the Chief Justice of the Su- 
preme Court ; Bancroft, the historian ; General 
Sherman, the warrior ; cabinet officers, and 
many in social life, their peers. Wheeler, the 
good Presbyterian, leads the service of song as 
the psalms of the Church catholic roll upward 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 463 

to the skies. In unity of worship all partici- 
pate ; songs of the battle of Christ are sung, 
and Sherman, the soldier, thrills with delight. 
The cool historian, Bancroft, warms up as the 
earnest strains flow out. The evening passes 
and all, reluctant, leave the place of worship 
in this Christian woman's home. In the gath- 
ering we see the magnetic grace of high- 
est womanhood ; in its catholicity her broad 
Christly faith, and in its worship her obedience 
and devotion to the most hallowed traditions 
of our native land — a land that has been blessed 
because its people have been a Sabbath keep- 
ing nation ; for a people will forfeit God's favor 
when those sacred traditions are set aside. 

Lucy Webb Hayes, religious and full of love 
for country, gave her last service to a work 
that, while aiding God's Church, must ever be 
a blessing to the country, for the home makes 
the nation. She saw the trend of population 
covering this New World, and was alert to the 
strategic points that must be held. In one of 
her addresses she says, " No part of the inhab- 
itants of the United States are nearer to the 
hearts of the members of the Methodist Church 
than our own countrymen, the patriotic Ameri- 



464 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

cans, who have crowded in such numbers to 
our western frontier settlements from Mexico 
to British America." Her patriotism glowed 
in her religion, and in her service for her 
Church she really served the nation. When 
the Woman's Home Missionary Society was 
organized, and she was solicited to be its first 
president, this woman, burdened with the cares 
incident to the highest position before the na- 
tion, gracefully accepted it, and filled it with 
honor to herself and with credit to the so- 
ciety. 

In her ministry in this society we can learn 
the breadth of her mind and her sagacity. 
Hearken to this extract from her address at 
Syracuse : " Our conviction is that the best 
hope for humanity is in America. Within our 
borders and within our reach are gathered the 
representatives of all the races of mankind. If 
by reason of our neglect of home work the 
stream of unchristian tendencies from abroad, 
and the flood of indifference and vice in our 
own country, shall overwhelm our cherished 
institutions, all missionary work at home and 
abroad will suffer alike by the common ca- 
lamity." With prescient eye she saw the dan- 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 465 

ger, and with a woman's noble devotion gave 
herself to an agency that in creating a higher 
and purer home life must make more stable 
our national rule. In this new movement she 
found a field worthy of all the ardent love of 
native land that burned in her soul, and in 
serving the commonwealth of God was but 
adding new strength to the foundations of the 
American republic. 

This woman not only saw the danger, but 
with a clear eye she saw her duty, and at once 
stood in her place, an example most beau- 
tiful and praiseworthy to all women of po- 
sition, training and wealth, urging them out 
of selfish indulgence into Christly activity; out 
of selfish enjoyments into Christly sacrifice, and 
out of personal ease into Christly labor. 

Her acceptance of the leadership of the new 
society defines her position, and that of all 
Christian women equally favored. Her words 
also declare it. She said, " If our institutions, 
social and religious, are imperiled, it is largely 
because the wealthy and the fortunate, en- 
grossed as they are in the midst of our rare 
material progress and prosperity, are not suf- 
ficiently mindful of what was taught by the 



466 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

words and life of the Founder of our blessed re- 
ligion, * Whatsoever ye would that men should 
do to you, do ye even so to them.' " 

What an exalted conception of duty before 
God, and what a fitting illustration of her own 
life ! We can understand her words, " The 
lifting up of the lowly of our own country 
ought to interest every man and woman." In 
her high place she carried into practice the 
teachings of the only Exalter ; for after all our 
best efforts, if we have not the Christ in our 
endeavors, we will fail. Behind the human 
arm must be the divine Hand to give success. 
This she saw distinctly when in her last ad- 
dress to the Home Missionary Society she 
said, " The necessity, the opportunity and the 
demand for Christian effort are more and more 
at our very doors, and even the champions of 
unbelief in the doctrines cherished by our fa- 
thers, seeing the tide that is coming in, are 
forced to exclaim, ' Men cannot do without the 
Christian religion.' " 

Religion in the home comes out in the State ; 
what we put into the home to beautify it comes 
out in glory to crown the social fabric. She 
was not blind to the changes that were going 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 467 

on not friendly to American institutions, see- 
ing in the stranger coming to share our polit- 
ical heritage a lack of education and religion, 
unfitting him for citizenship in the republic. 
She discerned the deficient virtues that come 
from the want of a proper home life and a due 
regard for women. " Elevate woman, and you 
lift up the home ; exalt the home, and you lift 
up the nation." Her words, fitly spoken, re- 
main, and her example still pleads for home 
and native land. Too much praise cannot be 
yielded to this woman of worth, who, when 
engrossed in social duties most exacting, and 
filling the highest place before the nation, 
identified herself with mission work. She hon- 
ored her faith in all places. 

The younger Adams, when a candidate for the 
highest office in our land, presides at the Con- 
ference of an unpopular religious society, and 
we honor him for his devotion to the faith he 
cherished. Lucy Webb Hayes honored her re- 
ligion in all places. She had nothing of a poli- 
tician's vacillation or neutrality ; she was con- 
sistent, and where duty called she gladly re- 
sponded. Her last service was to the Church 

she loved; her last public positition was the 
31 



468 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

presidency of the Home Missionary Society. 
In its interest she was deeply absorbed, and to 
it gave the grace and dignity of her position — 
a blessing in example and conduct that will not 
soon be forgotten, teaching women all over our 
privileged land by her loving ministry " the 
nobility of reverent service for Christ." 

She kept the faith, and the vow made at the 
altar of the faith of her childhood was a sacred 
pledge never broken. Her loyalty never 
wavered, nor could she understand the deser- 
tion of those reared in its communion. No 
false assumptions of bigots could alienate her 
love nor silent slanders of her faith win her 
from its altars. She could read the tissues of 
error in creed, and the sad story of humanity 
oppressed by so-called historic Churches. She 
knew the true Church, and was familiar with 
the notes of its apostolicity. To her apostolic 
character was more than apostolic boast, and 
the beautiful lives made holy by the Spirit of 
God the best and only test of a true Church. 
Intelligent, she knew the wondrous achieve- 
ments of the pioneer Church ; that the brightest 
pages of any Church history were made by it 
in a little over a hundred years ; and as she 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 469 

saw it foremost among the sister Churches of 
the Anglo-Saxon race she was glad to add her 
mite of blessing, and, seeing God in it, rejoiced 
to be among the people whom he had so sig- 
nally favored. She knew Methodism in its 
great love for souls ; in its missionary zeal, 
teaching in all lands ; in its marvelous success 
in converting men of all nations ; in its rare 
ministry of education ; in its simple doctrines 
and form of worship, and in its lofty and excep- 
tional privileges yielded to woman, and was 
thankful to be a member of its communion, 
and never hesitated to give a reason for her 
faith in its hallowed truths. Need we say she 
loved her Church and that it was worthy of her 
best affection ? Surely no Church has ever re- 
vealed clearer evidence of God's favor than the 
youngest of this republic. Her ascendancy is 
not only numerical but moral. 

Lucy Webb Hayes is representative of the 
position of Methodism in its privileges accorded 
to women ; and a communion that can edu- 
cate such a type has not spent its force, nor is 
its future in the past. The Church which will 
best educate and train womanhood will have 
the broadest ministry, and the type that our 



4/0 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

revered Church is producing is already in- 
fluential in the homes and society of the 
nation. The reformation of the eighteenth 
century is still a growing principle, and will ex- 
pand only to bless. Closely allied in thought 
and aspiration with the world's leading race it 
must grow with its growth and extend with its 
advance. In the order that is quietly trans- 
forming the nations the teaching of Christ, 
through Wesley, will share a noble part. We 
dare not despair of the future, but must guard 
it. The women of Methodism need to learn 
more of their Church, and they will be as proud 
of it as this noble woman, and delight in emu- 
lating her royal example as she brought the 
best gifts to its altar. The desertions from 
its altars can be easily arrested by a knowledge 
of the truth. Women will not leave a com- 
munion that opens its ordinances to all sincere 
Christians for one that narrows the Church of 
God to those that sit around its table of the 
Lord ; nor accept the teachings of a pulpit 
closed to all ministers who do not hold their 
sectarian name ; nor share a fellowship that 
shuts out all who do not pronounce its shib- 
boleth. The broad, tolerant faith of Wesley 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 47 1 

will be their choice; they will delight to be 
called members of its hallowed communion, 
and when honored by wealth and training for 
a higher seat will, like this Methodist woman, 
consider it a privilege to serve the beloved 
Christ by. aiding the Church he has so lovingly 
blessed. 

Lucy Webb Hayes honored Christ in all 
places, walking humbly and cheerfully before 
God, making glad the hearts of many in home, 
Church, and State. The early faith was an 
abiding joy, and to her came the poet's beati- 
tude : 

"And they who do their souls no wrong 
But keep at eve the faith of morn, 
Shall daily hear the angel's song, 
To-day the Prince of Peace was born." 

Her sun went down while it was yet day. 
Ere the lengthened shadows of life's evening fell 
upon her path sight suddenly " dimmed in the 
shadow of death, ears were muffled by his silent 
touch," and she was not, for God took her. 
Too soon, to human eyes, the windows of that 
rare soul were darkened ; but may there not have 
been an auspice of blessing in her early death ? 
She had passed through the highest places, 



472 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

and the influence of her pure life emitted a 
fragrance of sweetest perfume in every path 
she entered. The moment of death was aus- 
picious for her fame. She had filled nobly 
every ministry, and why should we murmur if 
she is led to a higher stewardship ? At no 
time would those dearest to her have con- 
sented to her departure. All that loved her 
would have kept her long from the embrace of 
the angels, but God's will ordered it otherwise. 
On June 25, 1889, entered into life this Chris- 
tian wife and mother. It was a sad day for 
the home in which she was so tenderly loved, 
and a sad day for the nation that had known 
her but to love her. When the hour of transi- 
tion had come, and the last rites were per- 
formed, the most honored in civil walk turned 
in sadness to her beautiful home. Old soldiers, 
escaped the fatal shaft, hastened to guerdon 
the love of one whose sweet offices had soothed 
and comforted them in times of war. Veterans, 
now the 23d Regiment of Ohio, were there, and 
tears fell thick and fast as they looked upon 
the quiet face of one whom they in almost 
filial love had called " our young mother." On 
her peaceful breast lay two gold badges, one a 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 473 

six-pointed star, having a finely-embossed eagle, 
with the inscription, " Society of the Army of 
West Virginia, Lucy Webb Hayes, Honorary, 
1883;" the other, the words, "The Women's 
Relief Corps of Ohio ; " both love's tribute to 
the heroic work of this patriotic woman. In 
the longer shadows of the summer day her 
sons and nephews tenderly bore the casket and 
hid it beneath the roses which loving hands 
had gathered to conceal the image of death, 
making of the grave a flowery vestibule to the 
home of eternal life. The band played the 
favorite military psalms she had sung by the 
soldier's pallet in the bivouac, and the simple 
hymns sung in the White House, as there was 
laid to rest, amid music and flowers, one of 
America's noblest women, a heroine, a philan- 
thropist, a Christian. In the hush of that 
spirit released a " nation stands with uncov- 
ered head." Flags drop half-mast east and 
west. Messages on electric wing haste to tell 
her virtues. The press, laying aside prejudice, 
exalt her beautiful life. The pulpits voice 
with one accord her teachings, and without 
respect to creed commend her decision in 
temperance when in " the chief home she stood 



4/4 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

bravely for the sake of every home Li the land." 
Churches and reform associations, and even 
political conventions, turn for the hour from 
living issues to honor the memory of the 
sainted dead. Our own Church, paralyzed for 
a moment, soon realized that in the translation 
of this godly woman one of earth's choicest 
spirits had joined the Church triumphant above. 
To no woman in America had such honors 
ever been paid ; of none so many kind words 
spoken. Nor is her fair fame faded, but in- 
creasing ; for not only in one nation but in the 
great world her name is a growing virtue. 

What estimate shall we make of her char- 
acter? She was beautiful, but her moral 
beauty was greater ; exalted, but not vain ; 
full of mirth, but not irreverent ; vivacious, 
but not frivolous ; independent, but obedient ; 
learned, but not pedantic ; hospitable, but 
not extravagant; religious, but not fanatical ; 
devoted to Church, but not bigoted ; and 
responsive to the demands of society, but not 
enslaved by it. Masculine in energy and force 
of intellect, and yet feminine in all her in- 
stincts ; a noble woman inspiring the love and 
respect of all classes, the soldier in the camp, 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 475 

the citizen in the home, the worldling in so- 
ciety, and the saint in the Church ; one who by 
hallowing the gifts of brain and heart did what 
was said of Prince Albert, " Made high places 
sweet places." She " purified the steps of the 
throne and knit together the nation." 

What was the charm of this queen of Amer- 
ican society whom historians and poets praise, 
and who has conquered such a large place in 
the heart of the nation ? It was not her 
beauty, and yet she was classic in mold ; not 
her lineage, and yet she was well born ; not her 
culture, yet she was college-bred. She had 
wealth and social position, yet these will not 
account for her supremacy. Above all the 
gifts of nature and discipline, above all tact 
and diplomacy, was the kind humanity made 
broad and active by the touch of divine love. 
Somehow society felt here was a true woman, 
and humanity, ever seeking the true, is haunted 
by its image. When she appeared it at once 
bowed down and did her honor. " If you have 
succeeded," said her father to the Empress 
Victoria of Germany, "in gaining the people's 
hearts by friendliness, simplicity, courtesy, 
the secret lay in this, that you were not think- 



476 METHODISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 

ing of yourself. Hold fast by this mystic 
spell. It is a spark from heaven." 

So of Lucy Webb Hayes ; her thought was 
of her home, her country, and her God ; and 
in this blended service if she has been honored 
as no American woman it is because she sim- 
ply obeyed God. 

The poet of New England, chanting her 
welcome, opens the secret of her winning grace 
as he sings : 

" If word of mine another's gloom has brightened, 

Through my dumb lips the heaven-sent message came ; 

If hand of mine another's task has lightened 
It felt a guidance that it dares not claim." 



THE END. 



